Translation – It is solved by walking; the problem is solved by practical experiment.

- Who do you belong to?
Who are your people?

That’s how our grandmother held out
A mug of water to the traveller

Like drill-sergeants, they measure their recruits.
The infant sprig receives the proper space
The manly fullgrown cauliflower will need.
And all must toe the line here; stern and leaf,
As well as root, obey the rule of string.
Domesticated tilth aligns itself
In sweet conformity; but head in air
Soars the unruly loveliness of beans.

They visit hidden places of the earth
When tenderly with fork and hand they grope
To lift potatoes, and the round, flushed globes
Tumble like pearls out of the moving soil.
They share strange intuitions, know how much
Patience and energy and sense of poise
It takes to be an onion; and they share
The subtle benediction of the beans.

They see the casual holiness that spreads
Along obedient furrows. Cabbages
Unfurl their veined and rounded fans in joy,
And buds of sprouts rejoice along their stalks.
The ferny tops of carrots, stout red stems
Of beetroot, zany sunflowers with blond hair
And bloodshot faces, shine like seraphim
Under the long flat fingers of the beans.

Louise Xavier de Ricard / Arthur Rimbaud

From the Album Zutique 1871-1872

Je me rappelais de ces marins qui fixent le soleil avant de mourir
Bénédicte disait toujours “qu’un voyage long est un sacrifice”

Alors je me suis rappelé que j’étais immortel
Et perché sur ce nuage
je regardais pour la dernière fois
le soleil s’éloigner.