Sarah Arvio

© Photo: Rigel Garcia de la Cabada

Sarah Arvio

An interesting account of Sarah Arvio’s artistic work in literature, film and music appears in the article about her on Wikipedia. “Côte d’Azur” is published in her first book, Visits from the Seventh (Knopf 2002).
 
 

 
Côte d’Azur

Out of the blue, one of them lipped to me:
“A handful of days can hold a whole life,
sunlight dazzling on a blue foaming sea,

the touch of a body and nothing more,
one whisper which was the very whisper
for which you had waited hour after hour,

maybe not the same words, not the same voice,
all those words other and voice still other,
the ring of unknown words, those were the ones.”

The hand that held my pen began to shine:
“How sad are those who borrow their solace
from several days never to return,

some incident of passion or promise,
some glimpse …” “Oh yes, but sadder still are those
who never bask on even that brief beach.”

How blue the sea looked; it shone and they shone;
now they glittered with an utter glitter,
now they beamed, for this was their greatest yes.

“The special few are those who live full joys,
not a day, a week or a mooncycle
but an extension of years, or a life.”

“Chimera on the surface of the sea,
haze that lies heavy on a salty sea,
haze hovering over a summer sea,

despite the scintillations of the sun.”
“Where will all this lead? It will lead nowhere.
Nowhere at all is where we want to go.

A blue nowhere made up of blue nothing,
a moment of bliss lasting a moment,
long enough for life, that long and no more.”

 
Poetry in this post: © Sarah Arvio
Published with the permission of Sarah Arvio