Venice masks

Wednesday 31 December 2014

Natural Woman - Mariska Taylor-Darko

When was the last time you felt the warm scalp of a woman
Run your fingers through her hair
Twisted her natural locks through your fingers
Or walked your fingers through the rows of braids
Just like walking through fields of corn

Tuesday 30 December 2014

Monday 29 December 2014

Shall we go, sister - Fernando Esquio

Shall we go, sister, shall we sleep,
at the lake edges where I saw
hunt the birds, my beloved.

Sunday 28 December 2014

God is beautiful - Robert Buchanan

O Thou art beautiful! and Thou dost bestow
     Thy beauty on this stillness—still as sheep
     The Hills lie under Thee; the Waters deep

Saturday 27 December 2014

Dream for the Winter - Arthur Rimbaud

To Her

In the winter we shall go in a small pink coach
With blue cushions
We will be well. A nest of insane kisses rests
In each soft corner.

Friday 26 December 2014

Eternal Glory of the sky - Ambrose of Milan (Augusta Treverorum)

Eternal Glory of the sky,
Blest Hope of frail humanity,
The Father’s sole begotten One,
Yet born a spotless virgin’s Son!

Thursday 25 December 2014

Cradle Hymn - Martin Luther

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay—
the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

Wednesday 24 December 2014

After Dorothy Sayers - Timur Kibirov

In the night, the dumb ox lowed to the donkey:
"Can you hear, brother, the sounds from the valley,
            the neighs and the horseshoes' clang?
From magical lands, from the edge of the world,
wise magi hasten and kings gallop toward us
            to bow to the King of Kings!
But before all the rest of them, I—a silly,
            dawdling ox—bowed to Our Child!"

Tuesday 23 December 2014

It is not Love it is Madness - Mirza Ghalib

(You say) "It is not love, it is madness."
My madness may be the cause of your fame;
Sever not my relationship with you,
If nothing then be my enemy.

Monday 22 December 2014

Cancion of the Pirate - José de Espronceda

The breeze fair aft, all sails on high,
Ten guns on each side mounted seen,
She does not cut the sea, but fly,
A swiftly sailing brigantine;

Sunday 21 December 2014

Supplication To Saint Blaise - Mihaly Babits

I’m asking very nicely now. Please help, Saint Blaise.
I can remember childhood days,
white candles held in front and crossed on my frail neck,
how from behind them I would look,

Saturday 20 December 2014

Why? - Carl Emil Otto

Once in the springtime we loved each other,
   It was long ago,
Brief was the dream and it passed as swiftly
   As the wind and snow.
But once we sat in a dreamland golden,
   On the mountain crest,
Once only, under those beeches olden
   Thy lips I prest.

Friday 19 December 2014

Dreams - Pierre Kemp

Certain nights I follow a yellow light
Until one blue door where it can be read: Dream.

Thursday 18 December 2014

Guardian Angel - Rolf Jacobsen

I am the bird that knocks at your window in the morning
and your companion, whom you cannot know,
the blossoms that light up for the blind.

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Sunset - Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff

We have passed through sorrow and joy,
walking hand in hand.
Now we need not seek the way:
we have settled in a peaceful land.

Sunday 14 December 2014

Christ's Birth - Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger

Each year when vapours melt and wane,
Child Jesus Christ is born again;
The Angel in air, in grove, in sea,
It is the Saviour, it is He.
Wherefore all Nature, with serene
Rejoicing, buds in hopeful green.

Saturday 13 December 2014

The Shining Hours (III) - Emile Verhaeren

This barbaric capital, whereon monsters writhe,
soldered together by the might of claw and tooth,
in a mad whirl of blood, of fiery cries, of wounds,
and of jaws that bite and bite again,

Friday 12 December 2014

Dead still - Andrei Voznesensky

Now, with your palms on the blades of my shoulders,
Let us embrace:
Let there be only your lips’ breath on my face,
Only, behind our backs, the plunge of the rollers.

Thursday 11 December 2014

Cast flowers, more flowers - Lesia Ukrainka

“Cast flowers, more flowers, and still more flowers
And the white gauze on the face
Of what is called illusion…” My God!
So often these words sound in my ears
In the dead of night, “Flowers, more flowers,
I loved the beauty so much!...”

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Farewell to Xin Jian at Hibiscus Pavilion - Wang Wei

A cold rain mingled with the river
            at evening, when I entered Wu;

Tuesday 9 December 2014

I don't know, I can't explain - Innokenty Annensky

I don't know, I can't explain...
Do I love or do I die?
Is it a dream or is it Verlaine?

Monday 8 December 2014

The Moon Flower - Lala Fisher

I know a valley — through its solitude
A brown road winds towards a mountain crest;

Sunday 7 December 2014

The Seekers - John Masefield

Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blessed abode,
But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road.

Saturday 6 December 2014

Modern day injustice - Andres Garcia

Blacks and Hispanics on the road to justice, but we are stuck in traffic.
We want our peace in the community but we are stuck in panic.

Thursday 4 December 2014

No, Love Is Not Dead - Robert Desnos

No, love is not dead in this heart these eyes and this mouth
that announced the start of its own funeral.
Listen, I’ve had enough of the picturesque, the colourful
and the charming.

Monday 1 December 2014

The Old Black Billy an' Me - Louis Esson

The sheep are yarded, an’ I sit
Beside the fire an’ poke at it.