"Come To The Edge . . . "
Here is another of my 'scrabble' pieces. I have made and sold several variations of this piece before. The quote is still a favorite of mine.
"Come to the edge", he said. They said, "We are afraid". "Come to the edge", he said. They came, he pushed them, and they flew. - Guillaume Apollinaire French poet and novelist 1880-1918
For years I have attributed this quote to Guillaume Apollinaire, as have many others.
Upon further research on Apollinaire and this quote, I discovered that these words were originally written by an English poet named Christopher Logue. The poem he wrote was commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 1961 or 1962, to be used for a poster advertising an Apollinaire Exhibition titled "Apollinaire Said".
Hence the mis-attribution, by me and everyone else in the English-speaking world . . . oh wait, I found this photo on-line, with the words written in Spanish on a wall somewhere in Salamanca, Spain, also attributing the quote to Mr. Apollinaire. . . .
On the bottom right of the wall the quote is attributed to G Apollinaire
With the understanding of the circumstances by which this misappropriation may have occurred, I have to say that I will continue to think of Guillaume Apollinaire every time I read these words.Besides, I really like saying Guillaume Apollinaire. *** When I read these words I think how many times I have stood on "The Edge" of one of life's major decisions waiting for a push, from something or someone . . . thinking, feeling, fearing that "the decision" was way too BIG for me to make on my own . . .
. . . only to realize that once 'pushed' I was able to fly. Always have.
