Before a man dies, he must see...
Trip Start
Jul 15, 2007
1
41
195
Trip End
Jul 16, 2008
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Carcassonne,
France
Monday, September 24, 2007
When I was a boy of about Jack's age (ten years old), my father gave me a copy of Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels. This book was written for children in the 1920s by Halliburton, the pre-eminent travel writer of his day. (Imagine Rick Steeves on steroids, flying his own plane, having coffee in the desert outside Mecca with King Faisal, gaining entry to the closed kingdom of Tibet, and ultimately dying on a Chinese junk in a typhoon while trying to cross the Pacific from Hong Kong to San Francisco.)
One of my favorite chapters was about the French walled city of Carcassonne. It began with this poem:
"I'm growing old, I've eighty years;
I've labored all my life in vain.
In all that time of hopes and fears,
I've failed my dearest wish to gain.
I see full well that here below
Bliss unallyed there is for none;
My prayer would else fulfillment know--
Never have I seen Carcassone!
Yet could I there two days have spent,
While still the autumn sweetly shone,
Ah, me! I might have died content
When I had looked on Carcassonne."
So crooned, one day, close by Limoux,
A peasant, double bent with age.
"Rise up, my friend," said I; "with you
I'll go upon this pilgirmage."
We left, next morning, his abode.
But (Heaven forgive him!) half-way on,
The old man died upon the road.
He never gazed on Carcassonne.
So now I have gazed on Carcassonne, long before my 80th birthday, and while autumn shone so sweetly. In this as in so many other ways, I am a lucky man..
Looking over the outer wall
