Venice masks

Saturday 30 November 2013

Ten thousand flowers - Wu-men

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.

Friday 29 November 2013

A boy's head - Miroslav Holub

In it there is a space-ship
and a project
for doing away with piano lessons.

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Tempus fugit - Lothar Schwabe

How do I measure time?
In years that start at midnight
On a wintry day?

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Jack Frost - Gabriel Setoun

The door was shut, as doors should be,
Before you went to bed last night;
Yet Jack Frost has got in, you see,
And left your window silver white.

Saturday 23 November 2013

When everything in life’s haze - Maksym Rylsky

When everything in life’s haze
Is lost and leaves no traces,
You don’t feel like leaving home or going home,
Because even there the fire has long ago burned out —

Friday 22 November 2013

The bright field - R. S. Thomas

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field

Thursday 21 November 2013

We are Like Worlds - Roy Campbell

We bear to future times the secret news
That first was whispered to the new-made earth:
We are like worlds with nations in our thews,
Shaped for delight, and primed for endless birth.

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Monday 18 November 2013

When you were reading those tormented lines - Afanasy Afanasevich Fet

When you were reading those tormented lines
In which the heart's resonant flame sends out glowing streams
And passion's fatal torrents rear up,—
Didn't you recall a single thing?

Sunday 17 November 2013

Genesis - Ina Kontvainytė

When I was Eve a hundred million years ago
You laughed
That same laugh,
Tolerant, and amused, delighted I was Woman

Saturday 16 November 2013

Some Summers and Springs (no. 5) - Jaan Kaplinski

God has left us — I felt it clearly
digging the earth around a rhubarb plant.

Friday 15 November 2013

Thursday 14 November 2013

You’re here - Boris Pasternak

You’re here. We breathe the self same air.
Your presence here is like the city,
like quiet Kiev wrapped in sultry
sunbeams there outside the window.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Shore of Silence - Karol Wojtyla

Love explained all for me,
all was resolved by love,
to this love I adore
wherever it may be.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Falling in love - S.J. Pedro Arrupe

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, that is, than
falling in love

Monday 11 November 2013

Yes - Brian Kennelly

I love the word
And hear its long struggle with no
Even in the bird’s throat and budging crocus.
Some winter’s night
I see it flood the faces
Of my friends, ripen their laughter
And plant early flowers in
Their conversation.

Sunday 10 November 2013

God and Galaxies (poem for Remembrance Day) - Bruce Levitan

God knows; is who knows why
Life spirals like galaxies
Faintly glimmering in the sky.
He alone is the One who sees
Our bright paths on the starry gauze.
He was there in all the wars
Waiting for us to understand the cause.

Saturday 9 November 2013

Photograph from September 11 - Wislawa Szymborska

They jumped from the burning floors –
one, two, a few more,
higher, lower.

Friday 8 November 2013

You who wronged - Czesław Miłosz

You who wronged a simple man
Bursting into laughter at the crime,
And kept a pack of fools around you
To mix good and evil, to blur the line.

Thursday 7 November 2013

Priceless Gifts - Anna Swir

An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.

Wednesday 6 November 2013

10,000 years for each earth citizen - john tiong chunghoo

the earth has enough years
to give every of its citizens
10,000 years or more
to live alone on the planet

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Li Fu-jen - Wu-ti

The sound of her silk skirt has stopped.
On the marble pavement dust grows.

Sunday 3 November 2013

Alone At Your Feet - Sant Tukaram

Consider me yours;
for I worship You, Lord.
In the company of saints,
my spirit soared.

Saturday 2 November 2013

The Flowers - Stéphane Mallarmé

From golden showers of the ancient skies,
On the first day, and the eternal snow of stars,
You once unfastened giant calyxes
For the young earth still innocent of scars:

Friday 1 November 2013

Autumn Evening - Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev

There is a wistful charm, a tenderness,
Mysterious and soft, in autumn's even:
The trees in weird and brilliant garments dress,
The gory leaves to whispered talk are given;