MARCELINE DESBORDES-VALMORE: The Awakening     On this bed of reeds, how can I sleep yet? I feel the scented air, scroll around you. Your mouth is devouring a flower aroma. approached, my darling, and others that do not burn me. Wake up, wake up!   But this breath of love, I wish that this kiss yet I dare …

Welcome to our “Travel Bench.” For this weekend, I would like to accompany you in the rolling hills of Central Tuscany, but not to make you drink good wine of Montepulciano, and even to see the Palio of Siena. My desire – but it is independent of any religious belief – is to help you along an ancient path, that …

Do not write. I am sad, and I would turn me. Beautiful summer without you, this is the night without a torch. I closed my arms cannot reach you, And hit my heart is knocking at the tomb.                  Do not write! Do not write. Do not learn to die to ourselves. God asks only that … you, if I …

No, waiting for us in this city there will be no Federico Garcia Lorca, and even Eugenia de Montijo, although the memory of the Spanish poet and the one of the last empress of France, still lives inside the Alhambra and the Generalife, in Albacin and in the cathedral church of this city so mysterious and fascinating. It’s true, we …

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, From The Book of Mothers and Children: TWO BEES.              Blessed are those that love the work unit: Providence blessed. In the hollow of an old wall, and languid and frail, Lamented a shrill voice A bee, without parents, Randomly walking her wandering household gods. Safe anywhere: its almost empty shelves Offered ample spoils …

Our meeting in Seville on April 20. We will meet in the Plaza de Toros, a few minutes before 18:30, the time at which the bullfight begins, one that I will see for the third time in my life. In the other two occasions (in Mexico City and Seville), I was with some friends, watching along with them a magic …

Hello, thank you for having accepted my invitation. The history of flamenco is Andalusia. To know this dance, today I have shown you Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, but in this magical evening, you’re my guest at the “Bar Arc de Santiago”, where we expect a show from the atmosphere full of intensity. Remember, we are at number 3 Calle …

Jerez de la Frontera, one spring morning, two glass of wine on our table, the taste of the Atlantic Ocean and the scent of Andalusia. Thank you for being with me in this region of Spain. The winter, as always happens was humid and temperate, but we can expect a hot and dry summer, and that is why I have …

Welcome to Waterloo. As you see, it is a Belgian city of Wallonia. His fame is linked to an ancient battle between Napoleon Bonaparte and the seventh European coalition, which met once more against him. That bloody event took place June 18, 1815, and marked the final defeat of the imperial dream of the French general that the British called …

She is a woman of the nineteenth century, a singer and actress from the ear very sensitive to the French rhymes. She was born in 1786, in French Flanders, but at the age of 15 years she was with her ​​mother in the Caribbean, on the Island of Guadalupe. After his return home, at the age of 22 years, the …

No, it is not a castle of cotton, you’re with me, in Pamukkale, Turkey in the south-west, but if you want we can call this place by its old name: Hierapolis, the ancient Roman city, the one where earthquakes have produced countless, but also a benefit: the birth of the hot springs, where the water-rich limestones has painted the mountain …

Hello, nice to meet you, on Meeting Benches. Its benches topics are open to contributions from anyone, but one where we are now sitting is called “library” where you can leave or find a book, or a review of a book. As you can see, today I have in my hand a novel by an Italian writer, but I must …

Boris Cyrulnik, a writer, but also an ethologist and a psychiatrist, a man who could speak kindly of love, the spider that teaches us how to build relationships in a creative way. After the experience of family affection, dare to be carried away by the falling in love, running in the excitement of new gestures and desires, those who envision …