Venice masks

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Beauty - Anacreon

Horns to bulls wise Nature lends;
Horses she with hoofs defends;

Monday 24 September 2012

Sur Karyal - Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai

Vai
I belong to that Baloch, to Him I belong
In reverence unmatched
I bow to Him
And kiss the dust He walks upon
Hold Him dearer than the sight of my eyes

Sunday 23 September 2012

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee - Henry Van Dyke

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

Saturday 22 September 2012

Highgate - Eleanor Farjeon

On the Hill there stands a Gate
Where folk go early and come back late.

Friday 21 September 2012

Love Came to Flora Asking for a Flower - Toru Dutt

Love came to Flora asking for a flower
    That would of flowers be undisputed queen,

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Last Of His Tribe - Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Change is the law. The new must oust the old.
I look at you and am back in the long ago,
Old pinnaroo lonely and lost here,
Last of your clan.
Left only with your memories, you sit
And think of the gay throng, the happy people,
The voices and the laughter
All gone, all gone,
And you remain alone.

Monday 17 September 2012

The Make A Wish Foundation - Kodjo Deynoo

Customarily candle lights are blown
To make a wish, make a wish
Make a wish and blow out the lights

Sunday 16 September 2012

The Ballad which Anne Askew made and sang when she was in Newgate - Anne Askew

Like as the armed knight
Appointed to the field
With this world will I fight
And faith shall be my shield.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Moonlit Night - Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff

It was as if heaven
had quietly kissed the earth,
so that earth with its shimmering blossoms
could only dream of heaven.

Tuesday 11 September 2012

The Gift - George William Russell

I thought, beloved, to have brought to you
A gift of quietness and ease and peace,
Cooling your brow as with the mystic dew
Dropping from twilight trees.

Sunday 9 September 2012

Sonnet LXVII. A prayer for faith - Michelangelo Buonarroti

There's not on earth a thing more vile and base
      Than, lacking Thee, I feel myself to be:
      For pardon prays my own debility,
      Yearning in vain to lift me to Thy face.

Saturday 8 September 2012

The Season of Loves - Paul Éluard

By the road of ways
In the three-part shadow of troubled sleep
I come to you the double the multiple
as like you as the era of deltas.

Thursday 6 September 2012

Said the West Wind - Isabella Valancy Crawford

I love old earth! Why should I lift my wings,
My misty wings, so high above her breast
That flowers would shake no perfumes from their hearts,
And waters breathe no whispers to the shores?
I love deep places builded high with woods,
Deep, dusk, fern-closed, and starred with nodding blooms,
Close watched by hills, green, garlanded and tall.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Tuesday 4 September 2012

The Praise of Spring - Gonzalo de Berceo

I, Gonzalo de Berceo, in the gentle summertide,
Wending upon a pilgrimage, came to a meadow's side;
All green was it and beautiful, with flowers far and wide,--
A pleasant spot, I ween, wherein the traveller might abide.

Monday 3 September 2012

A Song of Hope - Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Look up, my people,
The dawn is breaking
The world is waking
To a bright new day
When none defame us
No restriction tame us
Nor colour shame us
Nor sneer dismay.

Sunday 2 September 2012

The Lowest Place - Christina Rossetti

Give me the lowest place: not that I dare
     Ask for that lowest place, but Thou hast died
That I might live and share
     Thy glory by Thy side.

Saturday 1 September 2012

Baby's Way - Rabindranath Tagore

If baby only wanted to, he could fly up to heaven this moment.
It is not for nothing that he does not leave us.