Flower Of Youth, livre ebook

. . . sed carmina tantum nostra ualent, Lycida, tela inter Martia quantum Chaonias dicunt Aquila uneniente columbas. Virgil, Ecloga IX . . . but what can poetry do against marching armies? When the eagle flies tell me what good is the crooning of doves? I Prologue: The Flower and the Book Vietato (A Town Called Forbidden) After the hum of the transatlantic jet the earthbound jerk and rattle of a train pulling in and out of small town stations en route Venezia — Udine — there’s the heat of the sun high in a May sky, there’s the haze of humidity or my sleepless eyes see now as if submerged underwater, I understand nothing, not the time of day, not the names of towns: Salice , Pordenone , Vietato — Vietato , not the name of a town at all, but a warning sign, Forbidden — as if this flat and sun-lit terrain could take me back to the prairie, to Saskatchewan, where a town called Forbidden might join one called Forget. I was bound for Beyond History, a conference at the university in Udine but later I hoped to find a village called Casarsa though I had no idea how to get there, so when I saw Casarsa delle Delizia as one of the stops printed on my train ticket, it felt like a gift. The first of many I was to receive. • A beautiful day, full sun, breezes making it feel almost cool, although how can it be cool at 28˚C?