Venice masks

Tuesday 25 February 2014

The Peaceful Land - Frederik Hoegh-Guldberg

The waves have ceased their tossing,
The storms are laid to rest,
And scarce a breath is blowing
O'er ocean's heaving breast!

Monday 24 February 2014

Cosmopolitan poetry - Janos Arany

I have no shame, no regret
That born Hungarian, I write
As one, that I can never let
My words beyond this soil take flight.
No ‘Wonder of two worlds,’ my song
If charm it has, is due to them,
My people; I am theirs, belong
To one land wholly, root and stem.

Sunday 23 February 2014

He Said, Don't Sleep - Rabbi Adonim Halevi

He said, "Don't sleep. Drink old wine
with myrrh and lilies, henna and aloes,
in an orchard of pomegranates, palm, and vines
full of pleasant plants and tamarisks, to the hum of fountains
and the throb of lutes,
to the sound of singers, flutes, and lyres.

Saturday 22 February 2014

At The Café - Jens August Schade

A good song,
a crazy small miracle
comes from the gramophone
while I stay silent.
And to everyone’s amazement
I push back my chair
and stay sitting in the air.

Friday 21 February 2014

Sonnet I: Never was Ulysses - Louise Labé

Never was Ulysses, or any other,
more struck by so divine an aspect,
so full of grace, honour and respect,
apart from which I endlessly suffer.
Yes, Love, your eyes, in all their beauty,
have so pierced my innocent heart,
warmed and nourished by your art,
that, without you, there’s no remedy.
O, harsh fate that renders me as one
stung by the Scorpion, and seeking
an antidote to that creature’s venom,
I ask, merely, that you ease each breath,
not quench what’s dear to me, this longing,
the lack of which would see my death.

Louise Charlin Perrin Labé [La Belle Cordière] ( c. 1524 – 1566) France
Translated by A. S. Kline

Thursday 20 February 2014

Now I Pass - Paul La Cour

Now I pass into the stone,
soon I am mountain and cold,
if I cannot open my depths,
I must become a lock.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Simile - Charlotte Dacre

The little Moth round candle turning,
Stops not till its wings are burning:

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Ah! Beauteous Maid - Raoul Comte de Soissons

Ah! beauteous maid,
Of form so fair!
Pearl of the world,
Beloved and dear!

Monday 17 February 2014

The Light Is Round - Pierre Kemp

The light is round and rolls on all its sides,
down the mountains, through the dales,

Sunday 16 February 2014

Jacob And Esau - Else Lasker-Schuler

Rebecca's maid: a girl come from afar,
an angel, lovely, in a shift of roses
and on her face she seemed to wear a star.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

John Maynard - Theodor Fontane

John Maynard!
" Who is John Maynard?"
" John Maynard was our helmsman,
he held out, until we reached the shore;
he saved us, his is the crown,
he died for us, our love be his reward.
John Maynard!" —

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Room for All - Óndra Łysohorsky

I am a river.
From my source the gathering waters have been flowing
since time began
towards the ocean.
I accept brooks
that once were clear
and now disgusting city-sewers.
There is room for all.

Monday 10 February 2014

Contra Spem Spero! - Lesia Ukrainka

Away, dark thoughts, you autumn clouds!
A golden spring is here!
Shall it be thus in sorrow and in lamentation
That my youthful years pass away?

Sunday 9 February 2014

The sun that in the East does rise - Bernhard Severin Ingemann

The sun that in the East does rise
Drapes clouds with golden gown,
O’er seas and peaks it sails the skies,
O’er countryside and town.

Saturday 8 February 2014

The Red Squadrons - Hristo Smirnenski

Heralds of a happier day rousing wonder and dismay -
Powerful squadrons rush in close array.
In the morning sad and gray, like flocks of birds of prey
Shrapnels fall in their midst or fall astray.

Friday 7 February 2014

Sakuntala - Holger Drachmann

I could not sleep for longing,
a flower-wind
wafted towards me,
streaming in through my window
like a fragrance-breathing river;
I heard the tall palm trees
gently murmuring
with music sweet;
it whispered where I placed my feet:
Sakuntala, Sakuntala.

Thursday 6 February 2014

Smoke Is The Food Of Lovers - Jakob Cats

When Cupid open'd shop, the trade he chose
Was just the very one you might suppose.

Wednesday 5 February 2014

The Tiny Kingdom - Faustas Kirsa

With bugs, with butterflies,
With bees, ants, dragonflies, –
My youth withdrew into the fields
And waves with wings of mist.

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Can you see me - Else Lasker-Schuler

Between heaven and earth?
No one has ever crossed my path.

Monday 3 February 2014

The Wanderer - Bernhard Severin Ingemann

All the sky was dull and drear,
But what cared I!
For my sky shone bright and clear
In Eliza's eye.

Sunday 2 February 2014

Morning - Am­brose of Mi­lan (Augusta Treverorum)

Now that the daystar glimmers bright
We suppliantly pray
That He, the uncreated Light,
May guide us on our way.

Saturday 1 February 2014

By The Lake - A W Schack von Staffeldt

And while all the waves are borne off apace,
I feel as if I there too had my place,
And staring into the image-filled lake,
In some strange longing my parting would take.