Venice masks

Wednesday 31 May 2023

Change of Taste - Ján Kollár

'Tis wonderful how changeable
⁠The race of man is found,
How frequently with alt’ring age,
⁠The heart too turneth round!

Tuesday 30 May 2023

Today - Thomas Carlyle

So here hath been dawning
Another blue Day:
Think wilt thou let it
Slip useless away.

Monday 29 May 2023

An Irish Mother - Percy French

A wee slip drawin’ water,
    Me ould man at the plough,
No grown-up son nor daughter,
    That’s the way we’re farmin’ now.

Sunday 28 May 2023

Dawn (from Songs of Dzitbalche) - Anonymous

For the traveller
Who is on the road 
If the sun should come 
Here.

Saturday 27 May 2023

What a time the great sea - Anonymous (South Uist)

What a time the great sea
Was a grey mossy wood
I was a joyous little maiden

Friday 12 May 2023

The Lusiad (extract from Book I: Night-time in the Indian Ocean) - Luís Vas de Camões

Now shooting o'er the flood his fervid blaze,
The red-brow'd sun withdraws his beamy rays;
Safe in the bay the crew forget their cares,
And peaceful rest their wearied strength repairs.

Thursday 11 May 2023

Lament for my Brother - al-Khansāʾ

What have we done to you, death
that you treat us so,
with always another catch
one day a warrior
the next a head of state;

Wednesday 10 May 2023

Peace - Jacobus Revius

Beautiful is gold, most beautiful of all metals.
Beautiful is alabaster and the airy crystals;

Tuesday 9 May 2023

Sometimes we are tied down by memories - Jaroslav Seifert

Sometimes we are tied down by memories
and there are no scissors that could cut
through those tough threads.
       Or ropes!

Monday 8 May 2023

Do You Still Sleep In This Valley - Im Che

Do you still sleep in this valley, at rest under thriving grass?

Sunday 7 May 2023

Favour and disgrace are meaningless - Wu Cailan

Favour and disgrace are meaningless —
What's the use of contending?

Saturday 6 May 2023

Akhtamar - Hovhannes Tumanian

Beside the laughing lake of Van
A little hamlet lies;
Each night into the waves a man
Leaps under darkened skies.

Friday 5 May 2023

Freedom - Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor

Let us all offer thanksgiving,
For Freedom has come to us;
It's after ages that she has beamed
Her radiance on us.

Thursday 4 May 2023

The African Mother - Francisco Acuña de Figueroa

Tirai-je enfans de la rive africaine.
    Qui cultivent pour nous la terre americaine?
Differents de couleur, ils ont les mêmes droits;
    Vous-mêmes contres vous les armez de vos lois.
      —Delille, Malheur et Pitie, Chant I.

“And hast thou sped upon the ocean wind,
     Say, cruel pirate, hast thou come for this?
                  Not to leave one behind.

Wednesday 3 May 2023

The rainbow - ChatGPT

Through a veil of water, hues so bright and gay
A wondrous sight, that fills my heart with awe
As cascading droplets form fine spray
And rainbow arches, ashimmer, without flaw.

Tuesday 2 May 2023

Monday 1 May 2023

Rocket - Edvard Kocbek

Moonlight is dangerous,
Mothers used to say,
Sleeping walkers on nocturnal roofs
Are very suspicious,