unask

 

 

faun

 

There in the leafworld, green dappled gold,
among strange flowers that kiss
you sharply with their scent,
alive and real, amidst that petal

artistry, a faun. Big startled eyes.
White teeth, that bite a red flower.
He smiles amidst the foliage,
richly strange, like the first taste of wine--

and is gone. The smile remains--
his birdsong laughter, growing,
gathering, a golden kiss:
the woodland laughter still.

 

Rimbaud, Tête de faune, transl. Tom Davis

 

 

 

 

darkness

 

O Eros, silently smiling one, hear me.
Let the shadow of thy wings
brush me.
Let thy presence
enfold me, as if darkness
were swandown.
Let me see that darkness
lamp in hand,
this country become
the other country
sacred to desire.

 

Denise Levertov

 

 

 

 

actor

 

What do all examples show?
What can any actor know?
The contradiction in every act,
The infinite task of the human heart.

 

Delmore Schwartz

 

 

 

 

scamel

there is a new entry in our scamel blog.

 

 

 

 

the marvelous

 

The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise
Were all at prayers inside the oratory
A ship appeared above them in the air.
The anchor dragged along behind so deep
It hooked itself into the altar rails
And then, as the big hull rocked to a standstill,
A crewman shinned and grappled down a rope
And struggled to release it. But in vain.
`This man can't bear our life here and will drown,'
The abbot said, `Unless we help him.' So
They did, the freed ship sailed and the man climbed back
Out of the marvelous as he had known it.

 

Seamus Heaney

 

 

 

 

the wild iris

 

At the end of my suffering
there was a door.

Hear me out: that which you call death
I remember.

You who do not remember
passage from the other world
I tell you I could speak again: whatever
returns from oblivion returns
to find a voice:

from the center of my life came
a great fountain, deep blue
shadows on azure seawater.

Louise Gluck

 

 

 

 

joy

 

Let a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by,
As the Apache dancer
Clutches his woman.
I have seen them
Live long and laugh loud,
Sent on singing, singing,
Smashed to the heart
Under the ribs
With a terrible love.
Joy always,
Joy everywhere--
Let joy kill you!
Keep away from the little deaths.

Carl Sandburg

 

 

 

 

cathedral

 

Once one has seen God, what is the remedy?
Once one has been seized up

Without a part left over,
Not a toe, not a finger, and used,
Used utterly, in the sun's conflagration, the stains
That lengthen from ancient cathedrals
What is the remedy?

Is there no great love, only tenderness?
Does the sea

Remember the walker upon it?
Meaning leaks from the molecules
The chimneys of the city breathe, the window sweats,
The children leap in their cots.
The sun blooms, it is a geranium.

The heart has not stopped.

From Sylvia Plath, Mystic