Venice masks

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Saturday, 23 February 2013

Before the white chrysanthemum - Yosa Buson

Before the white chrysanthemum

Prabhujee - Ravi Shankar

Oh Master, show some compassion on me,
Please come and dwell in my heart.

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.