Think About It. Absinthe. Perhaps while recalling the writing and life of my extraordinary older sister I was reminded of the old saw, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. Experts disagree on the origin, but perhaps Roman poet Sextus Propertius was on the right track when he wrote: “Always toward absent lovers love’s tide stronger flows.”
Some say Thomas Haynes Bayly gets the nod for his ballad in 1844, which includes: “What would not I give to wander/ Where my old companions dwell?/Absence makes the heart grow fonder:/Isle of Beauty, fare thee well!”
Others insist the first publication was in Francis Davison’s Poetical Rhapsody 1602, but with no writer’s identity given. You may have been absent for the movie of the same title in 1925.
A few years later, comedian-singer Dean Martin irreverently sang,
If you should leave me, I know it would grieve me
So honey, please remember
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
For somebody else.
Absinthe, they say, can have a similar effect. Called the Green Fairy by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, Baudelaire, Eric Satie and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, it was also said to free the mind for more artistic inspiration.
Renamed the Green Devil by abolitionists and social conservatives, it was banned nearly worldwide around 1915 . Recent regulation revisions have permitted a resurgence (over 200 brands) of the mysteriously potent potable. SPOILER ALERT! It is widely reported that the ingredient thujone which added hallucinogenic properties to an already unusually alcoholic beverage, has been diluted significantly for current consumption. Also, lacking international standards, you have no real idea what you’re getting when ordering.
Maybe we’ll stick with a Sazerac in the old New Orleans Absinthe Room. You should have been there in “the day” to rub elbows with Mark Twain, Franklin Roosevelt, Frank Sinatra and (once again) Oscar Wilde.
If you have stayed with me this far, I must tell you that my heart has grown fonder for you even though you are absent and I sadly have no Absinthe. Think About It.
P.S. For more Sextus (really) quotes, take a look. And of course Dean Martin.