You
have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it—it’s the only way. So as not
to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the
earth, you have to be continually drunk.
But
on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.
And
if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the
mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing
or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that
is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything
that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind,
wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to
be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on
poetry or on virtue as you wish.”
*Puisi dari Charles Baudelaire
(1821-1867), penyair asal Perancis. Puisi yang meminta supaya kita tidak
menjalani hidup sebagai beban. Bebaskanlah dirimu dari tekanan! Mabuklah! Tidak
harus mabuk dengan wine atau puisi. Bisa
juga “mabuk” dengan membaca buku, “mabuk” dengan menonton film, mendengarkan musik,
berbincang dengan kekasih. Atau menonton sepakbola di akhir pekan, seperti yang
biasa saya lakukan. Terserah anda. Hiduplah dengan penuh kegembiraan. Dan alangkah
bagusnya jika anda bisa membuat orang lain gembira.