Venice masks

Tuesday 31 October 2023

Panegyric of Madog ab Maredudd - Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr

A Sov'reign Prince will extol, of nine parts is my poem, 
With all the force of numbers nine-nine are its topics, 
A hero 'tis to celebrate, Gogyrfan's like in stature. 

Monday 30 October 2023

In The Bloom Of His Youth - At The Height Of Summer - Uuno Kailas

How wonderful to be lolling about here.
Spreading one's limbs on the palm of a rock's hand.
In the nude.

Sunday 29 October 2023

Asking for Blessing - Anonymous (traditional Gikuyu tribal prayer)

Say ye, the elders may have wisdom and speak with one voice.
Praise ye Ngai. Peace be with us.

Saturday 28 October 2023

I think of your hands as gills inside the sea - Luís Carlos Patraquim

I think of your hands as gills inside the sea
your hands that breathe sounds
and I think I’m within a shoal of moving fish

Friday 27 October 2023

Thursday 26 October 2023

Fair Ladies are Delicate Things - Dugald Buchanan

                    [1.]
Fair Ladies are Delicate Things
The Pleasure and Joy of Man’s Life
Companions for Nobles & Kings
And who would not have a Good Wife1

Wednesday 25 October 2023

black majesty - Luis Pales Matos

Through the fiery Antillean street
Va Tembandumba de la Quimbamba
—Rumba, macumba, candombe, bambula—
Between two rows of black faces.

Tuesday 24 October 2023

Spiritual Song Of The Aborigine - Hyllus Noel Maris

I am a child of the Dreamtime People
Part of this land, like the gnarled gumtree
I am the river, softly singing
Chanting our songs on my way to the sea

Monday 23 October 2023

October Sky - Tadeusz Borowski

October was beautiful. As if it were yesterday I remember
the strangely clear, strangely deep sky
shimmering in the noon heat as a leaf shimmers in the wind,
empty and unreachable. I am oddly melancholy
telling you about this, for what do words mean?

Sunday 22 October 2023

Lao-Tze - Anonymous

1.
Back in the depths of ancient time;
Remote, before the Tis began;
Four equal sides denned the earth,

Saturday 21 October 2023

Il-Kantilena - Pietru Caxaro

Witness my predicament, my friends (neighbours), as I shall relate it to you:
[What] never has there been, neither in the past, nor in your lifetime,
A [similar] heart, ungoverned, without lord or king (sultan),

Friday 20 October 2023

Anacreontic - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft

Three long years have o'erwhelmed me in sadness,
Since the sun veiled his vision of gladness:
Sorrow be banished,— for sorrow is dreary;
Sorrow and gloom but outweary the weary.
In my heart I perceive the day breaking;
I cannot resist its awaking.

Thursday 19 October 2023

Spinning Song III - Elena Văcărescu

What hath he done, the luckless fellow,
     That thou wilt speak to him no more;
     Are ye not of the self-same village?

Wednesday 18 October 2023

Tuesday 17 October 2023

Homeland - Salomėja Nėris

Despoiled and blood-drenched by the foe
You rise before my eyes.
Many a hundred miles I'll go
To see your stirring skies.

Monday 16 October 2023

The Eleventh Sonnet to Beauty - Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero

O ripe bosom white that steadily before mine eyes
So dearly drifts, like the clear reflection
At the source of the Rhine of the purest snow —
Ah but your shimmering, o weak eyes doth impair!

Thursday 12 October 2023

Old Trees - Olavo Bilac

Look at these old trees, more lovely these
Than younger trees, more friendly too by far:
More beautiful the older that they are,
Victorious over age and stormy seas ...

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Victim Number 18 - Mahmoud Darwish

Once the olive grove was green.
It was, and the sky
A grove of blue. It was my love.
What changed that evening?

Tuesday 10 October 2023

The diameter of the bomb - Yehuda Amichai

The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters
and the diameter of its effective range about seven meters,
with four dead and eleven wounded.

Monday 9 October 2023

Song Of The Bells - Yakub Kolas

Silver-copper booming clamour,

In the belfry, bells are ringing.
In the dawnlight, bells are ringing,
In the twilight's shining pallor.

Sunday 8 October 2023

Daniel’s song - Mihaly Babits

Despite all Thou hast remembered me, God,
and Thou hast found all those who have long been
in search of Thee and all those who love Thee.

Saturday 7 October 2023

First Night - Zinaida Lazda

The soldier under earth shall joy in night -
A long good night!

Friday 6 October 2023

The Words of the Wise are Few - Sakya Pandita

Of all the lands where mighty forests grow, 
But few that bear the sandalwood I know; 

Thursday 5 October 2023

Love in Old Age - Paulus Silentiarius

Let others boast of charms divine,
The agile step and graceful air; 
More lovely is thy wrinkled face,
And threads of silver in thy hair.

Wednesday 4 October 2023

Old Courtesan’s Lament - Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Faces, faces, faces—
Why do ye turn away?
Young and old,
Why will ye not gaze into my face?

Tuesday 3 October 2023

The Syrian Lover in Exile Remembers Thee, Light of My Land - Ajan Syrian

Rose and amber was the sunset on the river,
Red-rose the hills about Bingariz.
High upon their brows, the black tree-branches
Spread wide across the turquoise sky.

Monday 2 October 2023

The Magnolia - José Santos Chocano

Deep in the wood, of scent and song the daughter,
Perfect and bright is the magnolia born;
White as a flake of foam upon still water,
White as soft fleece upon rough brambles torn.

Sunday 1 October 2023

Echo of Another Sonata - Enrique Lihn

                In your opinion one love erases another
and so it is, dear, yet in love not everything
belongs to the dart and quiver—