Venice masks

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

I am sorry it is winter now - Osip Emilevich Mandelstam

I am sorry it is winter now,
And you can't hear mosquitoes in the house,
But you reminded yourself
Of the frivolous straw.

Monday, 29 October 2012

The Treasury - Alfonso X El Sabio

The strange intelligence then reached my ears
That in the land of Egypt lived a man,
Who, wise of wit, subjected to his scan
The dark occurrences of uncome years;

Sunday, 28 October 2012

God - Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin

O Thou, who's infinite in space,
Alive in ever-moving matter,
Eternal in the flow of time,
God faceless, with a trinity of faces!
Soul unified and omnipresent,
Who needs no place or reason,
Whom none can ever comprehend,
Whose being permeates all things,
Encompassing, creating, guarding,
Thou, called by us God.

Friday, 26 October 2012

Song of the Old Boundary Rider - Vance Palmer

Fat and full of health are the valleys of the Condamine,
There the yellow maize and the green tobacco grow,
Through the little gardens runs the trailing passion-vine,
And softly to the North the white downs flow.

Thursday, 25 October 2012

The Boatman - Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky

Driven by misfortune's whirlwind,
Having neither oar nor rudder,
By a storm my bark was driven
Out upon the boundless sea.
'midst black clouds a small star sparkled;
'Don't conceal yourself!' I cried;
But it disappeared, unheeding;
And my anchor was lost, too.

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Wife - Julian Tuwim

My husband is idle, is dumb and spends money.
He either stands still at the window or runs about town like a bunny.

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Rose of roses and flower of flowers - Alfonso X El Sabio

1.
Rose of beauty and fine appearance
And flower of happiness and pleasure,
lady of most merciful bearing,
And Lord for relieving all woes and cares;
Rose of roses and flower of flowers,
Lady of ladies, Lord of lords.

Monday, 22 October 2012

I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed - Edna St. Vincent Millay

I, being born a woman and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,

Sunday, 21 October 2012

Friend In The Desolate Time - Erik Johan Stagnelius

Friend, in the desolate time, when your soul is enshrouded in darkness
When, in a deep abyss, memory and feeling die out,

Saturday, 20 October 2012

Biscuit Of The Day - Ibn Jakh

On the morning they left
we said goodbye
filled with sadness
for the absence to come.