Venice masks

Friday 30 June 2023

Summer has come - Anonymous

Summer has come, healthy and free,
Whence the brown wood is aslope;
The slender nimble deer leap,
And the path of seals is smooth.

Thursday 29 June 2023

Song - Theognis of Megara

Muses and Graces! daughters of high Jove, 
When erst you left your glorious seats above 
To bless the bridal of that wondrous pair, 
Cadmus and Harmonia fair, 
Ye chanted forth a divine air: 

Wednesday 28 June 2023

To my country - Jens Immanuel Baggesen

Thou spot of earth, where from the breast of woe 
My eye first rose, and in the purple glow 
Of morning, and the dewy smile of love, 
Mark'd the first gleamings of the power above: 

Tuesday 27 June 2023

Bright Thoughts for a Dark Day - Pamelia Sarah Yule

Will the shadows be lifted to-morrow? — 
Will the sunshine come ever again? — 
Will the clouds, that are weeping in sorrow,
Their glorious beauty regain? 

Monday 26 June 2023

Spring, and the sharpness of the golden dawn - Decimius Magnus Ausonius

Spring, and the sharpness of the golden dawn.
Before the sun was up a cooler breeze
Had blown, in promise of a day of heat,
And I was walking in my formal garden,
To freshen me, before the day grew old.

Sunday 25 June 2023

O soothe thy servants' woes, and bring (Placare Christe Servulis) - 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. 

Friday 23 June 2023

Heavenly Questions (Section 1) - Ch`u Yuan

'Tis said:
At the beginning of remote antiquity, 
Who was there to transmit the tale? 
When above and below had not yet taken shape, 
By what means could they be examined?

Thursday 22 June 2023

Man, a tree growing from Brahma - Yajnavalkya

As a tree of the forest, 
Just so, surely, is man. 
His hairs are leaves. 
His skin the outer bark. 

Wednesday 21 June 2023

The Epic of Gilgamesh (The story of the Flood) - Anonymous

Gilgamesh spoke to Utanapishtim, the Faraway:
"I have been looking at you,
but your appearance is not strange--you are like me!

Tuesday 20 June 2023

On avarice - Hatim al-Tai

How frail are riches and their joys? 
Morn builds the heap which eve destroys; 
Yet can they leave one sure delight 
The thought that we've employ'd them right. 

Monday 19 June 2023

Odin's Rune Song - Sæmundr Sigfússon

I know that I hung, on a wind-rocked tree, nine whole nights, with a spear wounded, and to Odin offered, myself to myself; on that tree, of which no one knows from what root it springs.

Sunday 18 June 2023

Holy Spirit, come and shine - Hermann Contractus

Holy Spirit, come and shine
Sweetly in this heart of mine,
With Thy heavenly love and light;
Come, Thou Father of the poor,
Come, Thou Giver, great and sure;
Come, and make my spirit bright!

Saturday 17 June 2023

The death of Hacon - Eyvindr skáldaspillir

Gondul and Skogul swiftly flew,
To chuse from Yngva’s boasted blood
What king should wend, with heroes slain.
To dwell in Odin’s rich abode.

Friday 16 June 2023

The living God we praise - Moses ibn Ezra

The living God we praise, exalt, adore!
He was, He is, He will be evermore.

Thursday 15 June 2023

To my physician - Elisabeth Kulmann

Physician, cease thine effort! 
I speak and have no fear 
Thou canst no longer save me, 
I know that Death is near. 

Wednesday 14 June 2023

Immortal Youth - Khushal Khattak

My two-and-sixty years are flown,
Swift years of sorrow and delight, 

Tuesday 13 June 2023

Exile Diary (I956-I967) - Hasan Alizadeh

Perhaps the homeland was this:
A far lonely village,
in an empty window frame,
a dried narrow brook & the naked aspen,

Monday 12 June 2023

Odyssey - Louise Vella

Odysseus sailed for nine long years,
Abandoning his sweetheart
Cold-hearted Penelope

Sunday 11 June 2023

Sunrise at Sanchi Stupa - Tishani Doshi

We were sitting outside the stupa that morning when the sun shone
down like a woman sweeping clear roads of dust

Saturday 10 June 2023

For a Little Sister, not to Grow - Zvisinei C. Sandi

Don’t grow Midi,
Remain gold
Don’t let the passing of the years
Turn you into yet
Some more waste

Friday 9 June 2023

Eastward, the Sun - Adam Mickiewicz

Eastward, the sun arises clad in gold,
Westward, the waning moonbeam disappears;

Thursday 8 June 2023

This is me and my life - Akkina Downing

They said it’s time I settle down
If I can’t find a man of my own 
They will be pleased to help me with that
They’re going to find me my man 

Wednesday 7 June 2023

Love Song - Nahabed Koutchak

Thy face is like a moon that shines on earth,
Like a thick night thy clustering tresses be;

Tuesday 6 June 2023

Departure - Erik Axel Karlfeldt

The black woods murmur
like psalm singing around the leaning cross of the fathers,
and dull as a watchful bumblebee
behind the ridges fades the Avesta rapids.

Monday 5 June 2023

Loveliest Poem - Arvo Turtiainen

The loveliest poem is born
when you are close to someone,

Sunday 4 June 2023

Now I appreciate it - Aline Gahongayire

He cleared all of my debts
What else can I say?
He gave me yet another new name
I am now His own child.

Saturday 3 June 2023

(Nobody knows) Why I loved Fascist - Eka Kevanishvili

I beg your pardon, but
All was well in the beginning
He looked like a guardian angel
Of mine

Friday 2 June 2023

Thursday 1 June 2023

War is a Crime (Elegy XI) - Tibullus

Whoe'er first forged the terror-striking sword,
His own fierce heart had tempered like its blade.
What slaughter followed! Ah! what conflict wild!