Venice masks

Sunday 31 December 2023

The Spiral - Bruce Levitan

The Muslims lived here long ago
And the Jews did too. O, woe!

Saturday 30 December 2023

Two blackbirds - Bessiki

Two blackbirds sitting in a cage chant melody
With soothing sounds that tremble on the fragrant air
In numbers soft that swell in music sweet and sad,
Filling the bower with love and purest harmony.

Friday 29 December 2023

The Holy War - Althea Gyles

We fight for Peace—not for Revenge or Hate,
Forgetful of the names of Fame or Fate—

Thursday 28 December 2023

Song Of Natela - Akaki Tsereteli

I gently strung my chonguri,
And tuned its chords with softness low,
Till every string rang harmony…
Odela-dela-delao!

Wednesday 27 December 2023

The Gold Horns - Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger

Upon the pages
Of the olden ages,
And in hills where are lying
The dead, they are prying;
On armour rusty,
In ruins musty,
On Rune-stones jumbled,
With bones long crumbled.

Tuesday 26 December 2023

From dust the Holy God created thee (Door IV.I: Humility) - Saadi Shirazi

From dust the Holy God created thee, 
Servant of God, then, dustlike lowly be, 
From envy, pride, and worldliness abstain, 
Earth is thy origin — be not like flame;

Sunday 24 December 2023

The Song of the Birds - Anonymous

In seeing emerge
The greatest light
During the most celebrated of nights,
The little birds sing.
They go to celebrate Him
With their delicate voices.

Saturday 23 December 2023

The Birds of Passage - Erik Johan Stagnelius

Behold! the birds fly 
From Gauthiod’s strand, 
And seek with a sigh 
Some far foreign land. 

Friday 22 December 2023

My native land - Lydia Koidula

My native land they buried you 
Beneath an ebon cover, 
And blooms of blood on wounded soil 
Were all they could discover. 

Thursday 21 December 2023

Refugee - Valsa George

From the dark arenas of violence,
From the shackles of oppression,
From a land reeking of the smell of blood
They flee, bloodied and bruised.

Wednesday 20 December 2023

Let the honour of thy pupil be as dear - Rabbi Eleazar

Let the honour of thy pupil be as dear to thee as that of thy colleague; 
that of thy colleague, as the reverence of thy master; 
and the reverence of thy master, as that of the Most High.

Rabbi Eleazar [Eleazar ben Shammua or Eleazar I] (2nd Century) Israel
Translator not stated

Tuesday 19 December 2023

Indian Ocean Ode - Luís Carlos Patraquim

robber of the wind and the fragile
Indian Ocean lines that spurt
in clear partying / with my blood
I scarf what I can / untameable
geometry of caves in this

Monday 18 December 2023

Journey into night - Degutyte Janina

My sister told me, "You are not my brother."
My brother told me, "You are not my brother."
Where can I find a sister - where, a brother.
Who am, to sister and to brother, alien?

Sunday 17 December 2023

Oh, Sing with Exultation - Anders Arrebo

Oh, sing with exultation,
Sing to the Lord, rejoice,
And in His congregation
Shout with triumphant voice.

Saturday 16 December 2023

The Dark Palace - Alice Milligan

There beams no light from thy hall to-night,
                                     Oh, House of Fame;
No mead-vat seethes and no smoke upwreathes
                                     O’er the hearth’s red flame;

Friday 15 December 2023

Pythia 7 - Pindar

The great city of Athens is the loveliest
invocation, to cast down as foundation stone for the song
to magnify the wide-flung strength of the sons of Alkmaion, and their victory with horses.
What country could you live in? what habitation? 
and name one more conspicuous for all Hellas to attend.

Thursday 14 December 2023

Sudsakorn (from Phra Aphai Mani) - Sunthorn Phu

Do not trust others, he said:                     
be afraid of the human mind.

Wednesday 13 December 2023

A royal epitaph - Eshmunazar II

I have departed hence,
And am no more forever.
Like the day I vanished,
Hath my spirit faded from the world,
And my voice
Ceased from sounding in the ears of men.

Tuesday 12 December 2023

Boomerang - Rex Ingamells

This piece of hardwood, cunningly shaped,
was curved so evenly while piccaninnies gaped
at a Warrior who chipped at it with pieces of flint,

Monday 11 December 2023

A Swimmer Is A Horseman - Paul Snoek

Swimming is licentiously sleeping in sprawling water.
is making love with each still operable pore
is endlessly being free and inwardly triumphing.

Saturday 9 December 2023

Love's Autumn - T-Ö Erdenetsogt

aripple ripple aripple
love’s autumn meets with us, and
in song song in song
you come to us with memory’s recollection

Friday 8 December 2023

The Lily Of The Valley - Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom

O'er hill and dale the welcome news is flying
That summer's drawing near;
Out of my thicket cool, my cranny hidden,
Around I shyly peer.

Thursday 7 December 2023

One Gentle Evening Suave - Rachel Bluwstein

One gentle evening suave, I'll go
Outside and immobile,
Not speaking to a single soul,
I'll sit awhile.

Wednesday 6 December 2023

Autumn - Pavlo Tychyna

Fungus grows on the cultures of the world.

Autumn. In the cities by four o'clock street
lights come on.

Monday 4 December 2023

Women - Anna Blaman

I
Her arms smooth and clear-skinned in the shadow
of dark tulle, amply perfumed and lips
of carmine-red—I see the tips
of her breasts heave coming and going.

Sunday 3 December 2023

Christ In The Corn - Ole Sarvig

I saw the corn last night,
the dreaming corn,
the corn and ears of all mankind ever
in these fields.

Saturday 2 December 2023

Here lay Leningraders - Olga Berggolts

Here are city dwellers, men, women, and children
Next to them, Red Army soldiers.

Friday 1 December 2023

Advent Credo - Allan Boesak

It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss—
This is true: For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life;