Black poppies and the fading cornflowers In the ripe hay by the stable, Yellowed letters of my respectable grandfather, Full of old fashioned vows to my grandmother,
Snuff box of my great uncle, Backgammon board inlaid on the little table, Carry me away, so I can imagine a time When my verses will carry you away, you who are not yet born.
For I was very much alive. Every wind which blew brought The odor of hawthorn blossoms and lilacs. The sound of kisses drowned out the tolling of bells.
O readers to come, who will live in the joy Of sixteen, of lilacs and first kisses, Your loves will rejoice my rotting bones.
CHARLES CROS (1842-1888)
Charles Cros (October 1 1842 - August 9, 1888) was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude, France.
Cros was a well regarded poet and humorous writer. He developed various improved methods of photography including an early color photo process. He also invented improvements in telegraph technology.
He is perhaps most famous as the man who almost, but not quite, invented the phonograph. In April 1877 he submitted a paper to the Academy of Sciences in Paris suggesting that the vibrations of sound waves could be traced with a pen attached to a vibrating membrane, then the waves could be engraved into metal, and then a stylus attached to a membrane could be run over the engraved wave to reproduce the sound. Before Cros had a chance to follow up on this idea or attempt to construct a working model, Thomas Alva Edison introduced his first working phonograph in the USA. Edison and Cros apparently did not know of each other's work in advance.
Charles Cros died in Paris.
L'Académie Charles Cros, the French equivalent of the US Recording Academy, is named in his honor.
