Venice masks

Thursday 31 May 2012

Why - Bliss Carman

For a name unknown,
Whose fame unblown
Sleeps in the hills
For ever and aye;

Wednesday 30 May 2012

What Was Told, That - Jalal al-Din Rumi

What was said to the rose that made it open was said
to me here in my chest.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

From Wonder World - Kate Greenaway

Out of Wonder World I think you come;
For in your eyes the wonder comes with you.

Monday 28 May 2012

Lalila, to the Ferengi Lover - Laurence Hope

Thy above others was I so blessed
And honoured? to be the chosen one
To hold you, sleeping, against my breast,
As now I may hold your only son.

Sunday 27 May 2012

Who am I - Carl Sandburg

My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
universal life.

Saturday 26 May 2012

High Tide at 4 A.M. - William McFee

They've tipped and they've shoveled, they've trimmed and they've stored,
And she's down to her load-line as ever;
The bridge is swung round and the pilot's aboard
And she's off to the dark o' the river.

Friday 25 May 2012

Bitter Oranges - Kostas Karyotakis

Oh, our little orange tree
all full of flowers
and like a bride dressed
all in white

Thursday 24 May 2012

And If I Did, What Then? - George Gascoigne

"And if I did, what then?
Are you aggriev'd therefore?
The sea hath fish for every man,
And what would you have more?"

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Night Chant healing ceremony - Anonymous (Navajo)

Tségihi,
House made of dawn.
House made of evening light.
House made of the dark cloud.
House made of male rain.
House made of dark mist.
House made of female rain.
House made of pollen.
House made of grasshoppers.

Tuesday 22 May 2012

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Monday 21 May 2012

Lantern Festival - Ouyang Xiu

At last year's Lantern Festival
The flower market was bright as day.

Sunday 20 May 2012

Table manners for children - Anomymous

In silence I must take my seat,
And give God thanks before I eat;
Must for my food in patience wait,
Till I am asked to hand my plate.

Saturday 19 May 2012

Amidst the Flowers a Jug of Wine - Li Bai

Pure wine costs, for the golden cup,
ten thousand coppers a flagon,
And a jade plate of dainty food calls for million coins.

Friday 18 May 2012

The Wild Swans at Coole - W. B. Yeats

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine and fifty swans.

Thursday 17 May 2012

World Was - Rainer Maria Rilke

World was in the face of the beloved –
but suddenly it poured out:
World is outside. World is not to be grasped.

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Only Of Thee And Me - Louis Untermeyer

Only of thee and me the night wind sings,
 Only of us the sailors speak at sea,
The earth is filled with wondered whisperings
 Only of thee and me.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

The Palace of Humbug - Lewis Carroll

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
And each damp thing that creeps and crawls
Went wobble-wobble on the walls.

Sunday 13 May 2012

The Tree of Life - Robert Buchanan

The Master said:
‘I have planted the Seed of a Tree,
It shall be strangely fed
With white dew and with red,
And the Gardeners shall be three--
Regret, Hope, Memory!’

Saturday 12 May 2012

The Sea - Xuân Diệu

I don't deserve to be the ocean blue
But I want thee to be the white beach sand
The sandy beach stretching calmly its hue
Under the crystal sun.

Friday 11 May 2012

The Tuft of Flowers - Robert Frost

I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.

Thursday 10 May 2012

The Sea-Lands - Orrick Johns

Would I were on the sea-lands,
 Where winds know how to sting;
And in the rocks at midnight
 The lost long murmurs sing.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

On early Trains - Boris Pasternak

This winter I was outside Moscow,
But when the time for work came round,
Through the blizzard, biting frost and snow,
I made the journey into town.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Upon A Haystack On A Southern Night - Afanasy Afanasevich Fet

Upon a haystack in lands of South,
I lay, while facing skies of night,
The choir of stars, alive and couth,  
Was trembling, spread at every side.

Monday 7 May 2012

Sonnet VIII: I Live, I Die, I Burn, I Drown - Louise Labé

I live, I die, I burn, I drown
I endure at once chill and cold
Life is at once too soft and too hard
I have sore troubles mingled with joys

Sunday 6 May 2012

Did I Miss Anything? - Tom Wayman

Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Saturday 5 May 2012

Song of the Wild Bushman - Thomas Pringle

Let the proud White Man boast his flocks,
    And fields of foodful grain;
My home is 'mid the mountain rocks,
    The Desert my domain.
I plant no herbs nor pleasant fruits,
    I toil not for my cheer;
The Desert yields me juicy roots,
    And herds of bounding deer.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Voices of the Air - Katherine Mansfield

But then there comes that moment rare
When, for no cause that I can find,
The little voices of the air

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Sea-Fever - John Masefield


I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Thule, the Period of Cosmography - Thomas Weelkes

Thule, the period of cosmography,
    Doth vaunt of Hecla, whose sulphureous fire
Doth melt the frozen clime and thaw the sky;