L'
INVITATION AU VOYAGE!
by Bernard
Marcoux, Sainte-Adèle
Dreams! always
dreams! And the more the heart is ambitious and delicate, the more the
dreams will move it away from the possible. Each man carries in him his own
amount of natural opium, secreted and renewed and, from birth to death, how
many hours can we count that are filled by positive pleasure, by successful
and decided action?
(All citations in
italic are drawn from L' Invitation au voyage, poem by Charles
Baudelaire.)
Why do we play
bridge, if not for this perfect hand which will take us elsewhere, there
? Who will take us out of the daily greyness and make us really live,
not simply exist? Does paradise exist at bridge? The legend says it can be
found only in these hands reported by newspapers, where players, aided by
exotic bidding, reach a grand slam and, after the lead, spread out their
cards, stating they will take all 13 tricks on triple squeeze, convincing us
still once again that we are simple mortals compared to these heroes without
fear and reproach. Is there really a paradise of bridge?
It is a Monday
evening like any other at your club. The game is pretty boring when you open
the hand number 9.
West
42
A1087
Q1096
J82
North
Partner South You
P 1
1
1NT
P
p 2
p
What is this
small shiver? Are you cold? No. You feel however as before leaving for a
trip. You pass, sensing all the same that something is about to happen.
North
Partner South You
P 1
1
1NT
P
p 2
p
P
double p ?
North passes and
your partner… doubles (Hand maximum, partner, short hearts). In the
greyness which rises a little, you look briefly at her. She too seems
already elsewhere.
It is a
region which resembles you, where all is beautiful, rich, quiet and honest,
(...) where the life is soft to breathe, where happiness is married with
silence.
You pass on the
double.
Dummy
Q73
65
K87
K7654
West
42
A1087
Q1096
J82
You lead the 4 of
spade. Your partner gains the first trick with the Jack and returns… a
heart.
You look at her
once again, this time with admiration. Is this possible?
Yes, it is
necessary to go there to breathe, dream and lengthen the hours by the
infinite of the feelings.
South plays the
heart Jack and you duck. You know he has 4 spades, where can he put them?
Your partner understood all that by her heart return : Let him play, she
says. After the heart Jack, declarer plays the diamond 2. All awake now by
the brilliant play of your partner, you insert the 9. Even if you play
reverse count, here you must think and play of bridge, not simply count
stupidly. Declarer ducks your diamond 9, your partner playing the 3 to
indicate 4 cards. You play your 2 of spade. Your partner wins with the 10
and returns… a heart!
A true country
of Feast, I say you, where all is rich, clean and shining.
What beauty!
What grace! The thought that South repeated a 5-card suit doesn’t hit you,
fascinated that you are by the angel sitting in front of you. You take the
trump King with the Ace. Now is the time to count : your partner has 4
spades, 2 hearts, 4 diamonds and 3 clubs. Declarer is cooked. You play the
Queen of diamond, to pin declarer’s hypothetical Jack. Declarer ducks in
dummy and… your partner takes the Ace !!! Would she be the perfect partner?
Incomparable
flower, found again tulip, allegorical dahlia, it is there, is it not, in
this beautiful country, so calm and so full or dreams that we should go to
live and flourish.
She plays Ace and
King of spades, declarer follows, powerless, while you throw your 2
diamonds. She returns diamond and you will make another heart trick for
+500 and a top.
North
Q73
65
K87
K7654
West
East
42
AKJ10
A1087
93
Q1096
A543
J82
Q103
South
9865
KQJ42
J2
A9
Yes, paradise
exists, perfection too. But it is not a bridge hand that creates them. It
is you and your partner, when you are on the same wavelength, when your
thoughts communicate, when you see the sequence and the order of play, the
tricks it is necessary to take and those it is necessary to let pass, when
it is necessary to ruff and when it is necessary to discard.
At that moment,
you form only one thought, only one being, a real pair, and you travel
towards this country of Feast, this singular country, higher than the
others, like art is superior to Nature, where Nature is reformed by the
dream, where it is corrected, embellished.
A bridge hand
cannot take you to paradise. Your partner, yes!
A musician
wrote the Invitation to a waltz; but who will compose the Invitation to a
journey, so that we can offer it to the loved woman?”
I have composed
this small piece for my partner, France, my wife, my black tulip and my blue
dahlia !
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