Venice masks

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Saturday 23 February 2013

Friday 22 February 2013

Luna - Erik Johan Stagnelius

Deep slumber hung o'er sea and hill and plain;
With pale pink cheek fresh from her watery caves
Slow rose the moon out of the midnight waves,
Like Venus out of ocean born again.

Thursday 21 February 2013

Sitting under white branches - Heinrich Heine

Sitting under white branches,
You can hear the wind blowing,
In blankets of mist shrouded,
See the silent clouds flowing.

Wednesday 20 February 2013

To Roosevelt - Rubén Darío

The voice that would reach you, Hunter, must speak
in Biblical tones, or in the poetry of Walt Whitman.
You are primitive and modern, simple and complex;
you are one part George Washington and one part Nimrod.
You are the United States,
future invader of our naive America
with its Indian blood, an America
that still prays to Christ and still speaks Spanish.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Indra - August Strindberg

Down to the sand-covered earth.
Straw from the harvested fields soiled our feet;
Dust from the high-roads,
Smoke from the cities,
Foul-smelling breaths,
Fumes from cellars and kitchens,
All we endured.
Then to the open sea we fled,
Filling our lungs with air,
Shaking our wings,
And laving our feet.

Monday 18 February 2013

The Shining Hours (XVII) - Emile Verhaeren

That we may love each other through our eyes,
    Let us our glances lave, and make them clear
Of all the thousand glances that they here
Have met, in this base world of servile lies.

Sunday 17 February 2013

The Temple Tank - Govinda Krishna Chettur

Here, by this pool, where herons stand and wait,
In quietness I cannot imitate:

Saturday 16 February 2013

There's Nae Luck about the House (The Mariner's Wife) - William Mickle

And are ye sure the news is true?
    And are ye sure he's weel?
Is this a time to think o' wark?
    Mak haste, lay by your wheel;
Is this the time to spin a thread
    When Colin's at the door?
Reach me my cloak, I'll to the quay
    And see him come ashore.
For there's nae luck about the house,
    There's nae luck at a',
There's little pleasure in the house
    When our gudeman's awa.

Friday 15 February 2013

Advice: to himself - Catullus

Sad Catullus, stop playing the fool,
and let what you know leads you to ruin, end.

Thursday 14 February 2013

My lady looks so gentle and so pure - Dante Alighieri

My lady looks so gentle and so pure
When yielding salutation by the way,

Wednesday 13 February 2013

All the Hemispheres - Hafez

Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Love is the master - Jalal al-Din Rumi

Love is the One who masters all things;
I am mastered totally by Love.

Monday 11 February 2013

Tonight the moon... - Kostas Karyotakis


Tonight the moon will fall upon
the strand, a heavy pearl.

Sunday 10 February 2013

Unison - F.R. Scott

What is it makes a church so like a poem?
The inner silence – spaces between words?

Saturday 9 February 2013

The Ninth Secret Poem - Guillaume Apollinaire

I worship your fleece which is the perfect triangle
Of the Goddess

Friday 8 February 2013

The Ocean's Song - Victor Hugo

We walked amongst the ruins famed in story
Of Rozel-Tower,
And saw the boundless waters stretch in glory
And heave in power.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Wednesday 6 February 2013

The Old Lizard - Federico García Lorca

In the parched path
I have seen the good lizard
(one drop of crocodile)
meditating.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

The Castle By The Sea - Johann Ludwig Uhland

'Hast thou seen that lordly castle,
That Castle by the Sea?
Golden and red above it
The clouds float gorgeously.

Sunday 3 February 2013

Jonah’s Prayer - Mihaly Babits

Words have become unfaithful things to me,
or else am I an overflowing sea,
goalless and hesitant, without a shore.

Saturday 2 February 2013

Pointless your mourning - Adam Asnyk

Pointless your mourning and your toil
Helpless your curses dire
Past forms no miracle can bring
Back from funereal pyre.

Friday 1 February 2013

Show Me The Mountain That Packed Up And Left - Nontsizi Mgqwetho

“Come back,” mountain that left.
There are your people frantically scrabbling,
knowing full well that this country
will stand to the end of time.