Venice masks

Tuesday 31 July 2018

St. Simeon Stylites - Enrico Nencione

On the white head of the old man divine
The sun in torrents falls—the August sun—
In the fields the yellow grasses smoke with heat:
He from his place upon the pillar’s height
A living statute stands, an iron form,
Yet animated by the breath of God.

Monday 30 July 2018

It is the coming of the night - Christopher Brennan

It is the coming of the night:
they gather to their hearths; they light
the scanty flame, and draw the chair
closer, and warmth enchants their care.

Sunday 29 July 2018

Vesper Hymn for All Saints - Rabanus Maurus

O soothe thy servants' woes, and bring
Our souls to thee, most clement King;
We seek before thy mercy seat
The Virgin's intercession sweet.

Saturday 28 July 2018

One who feels others' grief - Narsinh Mehta

One who feels others' grief as his own,
Who obliges others in distress
Without being swollen with pride,
He alone can be called a Vaishnava!

Sunday 22 July 2018

The Unity of God - Panatattu

Into the bosom of the one great sea
Flow streams that come from hills on every side.
Their names are various as their springs.
And thus in every land do men bow down
To one great God, though known by many names.
This mighty Being we would worship now.

Saturday 21 July 2018

The Moon - Elena Văcărescu

A green, green tree in my courtyard stands.
The sunshine loves it, the breezes rock it;
But when snow hath fallen, the tree forgetteth
That April once was here.

Friday 20 July 2018

Heart, my Heart - Heinrich Heine

Heart, my heart, no longer mourn,
Wail no more the weary days,
Spring will freshen all the ways
By the winter made forlorn.

Thursday 19 July 2018

Prologue, addressed to Tullus - Sextus Propertius

Cynthia was the first. She caught me with her eyes, a fool
who had never before been touched by desires.
I really hung my head in shame
when Love pressed down on it with his feet.
He taught me to hate chaste girls!
He was cruel when he told me to live without plan.
It's already been a whole year that the frenzy hasn't stopped.
Even now, the gods are against me.

Wednesday 18 July 2018

Kiss III - Joannes Secundus

“One Kiss, enchanting Maid!" (I cry'd;)—
One little Kiss! and then adieu!
Your lips, with luscious crimson dyed,
To mine with trembling rapture flew:

Tuesday 17 July 2018

Mnasidika's breasts - Pierre Louÿs

Carefully, with one hand, she opened her tunic and tendered me her breasts, warm and sweet, just as one offers the goddess a pair of living turtle-doves.

Monday 16 July 2018

The Flute - Pierre Louÿs

For the Hyacinthian day he gave me some Panic pipes, of measured reeds well-cut, bound each to each with soft white wax, sweet as honey to my lips.

Sunday 15 July 2018

Ye glooms of night! - Aurelius Clemens Prudentius

Ye glooms of night! ye clouds and shade!
O'er earth in dim confusion spread!
The light is here! behold the dawn!
Christ cometh; haste ye and begone!

Saturday 14 July 2018

Ballata. Concerning a Shepherd-maid - Guido Cavalcanti

Within a copse I met a shepherd-maid,
  More fair, I said, than any star to see.

Friday 13 July 2018

Nocturne - Delmira Agustini

Lake of your soul, gem-mounted in night,
you would tell a thread of crystal and calm
spun by the huge spiders of wakeful evening.

Thursday 12 July 2018

The creation of the Universe - Óengus the Culdee

My own King, King of the pure heavens,
without pride, without contention,
who didst create the folded world,
my King ever-living, ever victorious.

Wednesday 11 July 2018

The Pleasing Constraint - Aristaenetus

In a snug little court as I stood t’ other day,
And caroll’d the loitering minutes away;
Came a brace of fair nymphs, with such beautiful faces,
That they yielded in number alone to the Graces:

Tuesday 10 July 2018

Under One Small Star - Wislawa Szymborska

My apologies to chance for calling it necessity.
My apologies to necessity if I'm mistaken, after all.
Please, don't be angry, happiness, that I take you as my due.

Monday 9 July 2018

On an eclipse of the sun - Archilochus

Naught, now, can pass belief; in Nature's ways
No strange anomaly our wonder raise.

Sunday 8 July 2018

The deer's cry - St. Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

Saturday 7 July 2018

The Bear, the Ape, and the Pig - Tomás Iriarte

A bear, whose dancing help’d to gain
     His own and owner’s livelihood,
And whose success had made him vain
     As any dandy, stood
Upon his hinder legs to try
     The figure of a new quadrille,

Friday 6 July 2018

Sleep - Baltasar del Alcázar

Sleep is no servant of the will;
    It has caprices of its own;
    When most pursued, ’tis swiftly gone;
When courted least, it lingers still.
With its vagaries long perplext,
    I turned and turned my restless sconce,
    Till, one fine night, I thought at once
I’d master it. So hear my text.

Thursday 5 July 2018

Madrigal I - Torquato Tasso

Once a mosquito came a-buzzing round
The happy place
Where in his mother’s lap Love lay sleep-bound

Wednesday 4 July 2018

Grief - Francesco Redi

Sweet Ladies, who to Love your hearts incline,
  And hand in hand walk down compassion’s way,
  Pause here an hour and weep with me and say
If ever there was sorrow like to mine!

Tuesday 3 July 2018

Is this a dagger which I see before me - William Shakespeare

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:—
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Monday 2 July 2018

Liberty - Mikael Ghazarian Nalbandian

When God, who is forever free,
Breathed life into my earthly frame, —
From that first day, by His free will
When I a living soul became, —
A babe upon my mother’s, breast,
Ere power of speech was given to me,
Even then I stretched my feeble arms
Forth to embrace thee, Liberty!

Sunday 1 July 2018

Once again I am overwhelmed - Imam Ahmad Raza

Once again I am overwhelmed by the ecstasies of Arabia,
My heart is again bewitched by the charms of Arabia.