Venice masks

Saturday 31 March 2012

Farewell To Arras - Adam De La Halle

Arras! Arras! town full of strife,
With calumnies and hatred rife;
You were a noble town of yore;
Your fame, 'tis said, they will restore.
But unless God your manners mend,
I see not who'll effect this end;
Gambling is all that you pursue,
So, fifty thousand times adieu.

Friday 30 March 2012

The Gardener XIX: You Walked - Rabindranath Tagore

You walked by the riverside path
with the full pitcher upon your hip.
Why did you swiftly turn your face
and peep at me through your fluttering
veil?

Thursday 29 March 2012

Ghazal - Faiz Ahmed Faiz

I am being accused of loving you, that is all
It is not an insult, but a praise, that is all

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Two Lovers - George Eliot

Two lovers by a moss-grown spring:
They leaned soft cheeks together there,
Mingled the dark and sunny hair,
And heard the wooing thrushes sing.
O budding time!
O love's blest prime!

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Railway Station - Boris Pasternak

My dear railway station, my treasure
Of meetings and partings, my friend
In times of hard trials and pleasure,
Your favours have been without end.

Sunday 25 March 2012

Spring - John Gould Fletcher

At the first hour, it was as if one said, “Arise.”
At the second hour, it was as if one said, “Go forth.”
And the winter constellations that are like patient ox-eyes
Sank below the white horizon at the north.

Saturday 24 March 2012

Aubade - Edith Sitwell

Jane, Jane,
Tall as a crane,
The morning light creaks down again;

Friday 23 March 2012

Sonnet I - Mary Wroth

In this strange Labyrinth how shall I turne,
Wayes are on all sides while the way I misse:

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Fertile Eyes - Paul Éluard

Fertile Eyes
No one can know me more
More than you know me

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Monday 19 March 2012

The Panther - Rainer Maria Rilke

His gaze has been so worn by the procession
Of bars that it no longer makes a bond.
Around, a thousand bars seem to be flashing,
And in their flashing show no world beyond.

Sunday 18 March 2012

The Mother - Robert Service

There will be a singing in your heart,
There will be a rapture in your eyes;
You will be a woman set apart,
You will be so wonderful and wise.
You will sleep, and when from dreams you start,
As of one that wakes in Paradise,
There will be a singing in your heart,
There will be a rapture in your eyes.

Saturday 17 March 2012

Friday 16 March 2012

Thursday 15 March 2012

How Noisy They Seem - Alootook Ipellie

I saw a picture today, in the pages of a book.
It spoke of many memories of when I was still a child:
Snow covered the ground,
And the rocky hills were cold and gray with frost.
The sun was shining from the west,
And the shadows were dark against the whiteness of the hardened snow.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Song of the Pines - Po Chü-i

I like sitting alone when the moon is shining,
And there are two pines standing before the verandah;

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Monday 12 March 2012

To The Young - Adam Asnyk

The brightening flame of truth pursue,
Seek to discover ways no human knows.
With every secret now revealed to you,
The soul of man expands within the new.
And God still bigger grows!

Sunday 11 March 2012

The Fir-Tree and the Brook - Helen Hunt Jackson

The Fir-Tree looked on stars, but loved the Brook!
"O silver-voiced! if thou wouldst wait,
My love can bravely woo." All smiles forsook
The brook's white face. "Too late!
Too late! I go to wed the sea.
I know not if my love would curse or bless thee.
I may not, dare not, tarry to caress thee,
Oh, do not follow me!

Saturday 10 March 2012

Brown Penny - William Butler Yeats

I whispered, 'I am too young,'
And then, 'I am old enough';
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
'Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.'
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.

Friday 9 March 2012

In a V A D Pantry - Alberta Vickridge

In a V A D Pantry
Pots in piles of blue and white,
Old in service, cracked and chipped—
While the bare-armed girls tonight
Rinse and dry, with trivial-lipped
Mirth, and jests, and giggling chatter,
In this maze of curls and clatter
Is there no one sees in you
More than common white and blue?

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Sophia's Fools-Cap - Adelaide O Keeffe

Sophia was a little child,
Obliging, good, and very mild,
Yet lest of dress she should be vain,
Mamma still dress'd her well, but plain.
Her parents, sensible and kind,
Wish'd only to adorn her mind;
No other dress, when good, had she,
But useful, neat simplicity.

Monday 5 March 2012

Poem Of Alienation - Antonio Jacinto

This is not yet my poem
the poem of my soul and of my blood
no
I still lack knowledge and power to write my poem
the great poem I feel already turning in me

Sunday 4 March 2012

A Child’s Prayer - Matilda B. Edwards

God make my life a little light,
    Within the world to glow,—
A tiny flame that burneth bright,
    Wherever I may go.

Saturday 3 March 2012

We Are Going - Oodgeroo Noonuccal

They came in to the little town
A semi-naked band subdued and silent
All that remained of their tribe.

Friday 2 March 2012

The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less - Gerard Manley Hopkins

The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less;
The times are winter, watch, a world undone:

Thursday 1 March 2012

A Simile - Matthew Prior

Dear Thomas, didst thou never pop
Thy head into a tin-man's shop?
There, Thomas, didst thou never see
('Tis but by way of simile)
A squirrel spend his little rage
In jumping round a rolling cage?
The cage, as either side turn'd up,
Striking a ring of bells a-top?—