POETRY

[sunrise]

LUCIFER

by Mihai Eminescu
English version by Dimitrie Cuclin


There was, as in the fairy tales,
As ne'er in the time's raid,
There was, of famous royal blood
A most beautiful maid.

She was her parents' only child,
Bright like the sun at noon,
And like the virgin midst the saints
And among stars the moon.

From the deep shadow of the vaults
Her step now she directs
Toward a window: at its nook
Bright Lucifer expects.

She looks as in the distant seas
He rises, darts his rays
And leads the blackish, loaded ships
On the wet, moving, ways.

To look at him every night
Her soul her instincts spur;
And as he looks at her for weeks
He falls in love with her.

And as on her elbows she leans
Her temple and her whim
She feels in her heart and soul that
She falls in love with him.

And ev'ry night his stormy flames
More stormily renew
When in the shadow of the castle
She shows to his bright view.

And to her room with her slow steps
He bears his steps and aims
Weaving out of his sparkles cold
A toil of shaking flames.

And when she throws upon her bed
Her tired limbs and reposes,
He glides his hand along her breast
And her sweet eyelash closes.

And from her mirror on her shape
A beam has spread and burns,
On her big eyes that beat though closed
And on her face that turns.

Her smiles view him; the mirror shows
Him trembling in the nook
For he is plunging in her dreem
So that their souls may hook

She speaks with him in sleep and sighs
While her heart's swelled veins drum:
-"O, sweet Lord of my fairy nights,
Why comest thou not? Come!

"Descent to me, mild Lucifer,
Thou canst glide on a beam,
Enter my dwelling and my mind
And over my life gleam! "

And he listens and trembles and
Still more for her love craves
And as quick as the lightning he
Plunges into the waves.

The water in that very spot
Moves rolling many rings
And out of the unknown, dark, depth
A superb young man springs.

As on a threshold o' er the still
His hasty steps he leads,
Holds in his hand a staff with, at
Its top, a crown of reeds!

A young Voivode he seems to be
With soft and golden hair;
A blue shroud binds in a knot on
His naked shoulder fair.

The shade of his face is of wan
And thou canst see throughout-
A handsome dead man with live eyes
That throw their sparkles out.

"From my sphere hardly I come to
Follow thy call and thee.
The heaven is my father and
My mother is the sea.

"So that I could come to thy room
And look at thee from near
With my light reborn from waves my
Fate, toward thee I steer.

"O, come, my treasure wonderful,
And thy world leave aside;
For I am Lucifer up from
And thou wouldst be my bride.

"In my palace of coral I'll
Take thee for evermore
And the entire world of the sea
Will kneel before thy door".

"O, thou, art beautiful as but
In dreams an angel shows,
The way though thou hast oped for me
For me' s for ever close.

"Thy port and mien and speech are strange
Life thy gleams don' t impart,
For I' m alive and thou art dead
And thy eyes chill my heart. "

Days have past since; but Lucifer
Comes up again and stays
Just as before, spreading o' er her
His clear translucent, rays.

In sleep she would remember him
And, as before, whole
Wish for the Master of the waves
Is clinching now her soul.

"Descend to me, mild Lucifer,
Thou canst glide on a beam,
Enter my dwelling and my mind
And over my life gleam! "

He hears; and from the dire despair
Of such a woeful weird
He dies, and the heavens revolve
Where he has disappeared.

Soon in the air flames ruddy spread
The world in their grip hold;
A superb from the spasm of the
Chaotic valleys mould.

On his locks of black hair he bears
His crown a fierce fire frames;
He floats as he really comes
Swimming in the sun' s flames.

His black shroud lets develop out
His arms marbly and hale;
He pensively and sadly brings
His face awfully pale.

But his big wonderful eyes' gleam
Chimerically deep,
Shows two unsatiated spasms
That but into dark peep.

-"From my sphere hardly I come to
Follow thy voice, thy sight;
The bright sun is my father and
My mother is the night. "

"O, come, and upon thy blond hair
And thy world leave aside
For I am Lucifer from up
And thou wouldst be my bride.




"O, come, and upon thy blond hair
Crowns of stars I shall crowd,
And more that all of them, up there,
Thou wilt look fair and proud."


-"O, thou art beautiful as but
In dreams a demon shows,
The way thought thou hast oped for me
For m'es for ever close".


"The depths of my breast ache from the
Desire of thy fierce love
My heavy, big, eyes also ache
When into them thine shove".


"But how wouldst thou that I come down?
Know this-for, do I lie?-
I am immortal, while thou art
One of those that must die!"


"I hate big words, nor do I know
How to begin my plea;
And although thy discourse is clear
I don't understand thee."


"But if thou wantest my flamed love
And that would not be sham,
Come down on this temporal earth,
Be mortal as I am!"


"I'd lose my immortality
For but one kiss of thine!
Well, I will show the how much too
For thy fierce love I pine!"

"Yes, I shall be reborn from sin,
Receive another creed:
From that endlessness to which I
Am tied, I shall be freed!"

And out he went, he went, went out,
Loving a human fay,
He plucked himself off from the sky.
Went for many a day.

Menwhile, the house-boy, Catalin
Sly, and who often jests
When he's filling with wine the cups
Of the banqueting guests;

A page that carries step by step
The trail of the Queen's gown,
A wandering bastard, but bold
Like no one in the town;

His little cheek-a peony
That under the sun stews;
Watchful, just like a thief, he sneaks
In Catalina's views.

"How beautiful she grew"-thinks he-
A flower just to pluck!
Now, Catalin, but now it is
Thy chance to try luck!"

And by the way, hurriedly he
Corners that human fay:
"What's with thee, Catalin! Let me
Alone and go thy way!"

"No! want thee to stay away
From thoughts that have no fun.
I want to see thee only laugh,
Give me a kiss, just one!"

I don't know, I could show
And, believe me, retire!
But for one Lucifer from up
I've kept my strong desire!"

"If thou dost not know, I could show
Thee all about love's balm!
Only, don't give way to thy ire
And listen and be calm."

"So as the hunter throw the net
That many birds would harm,
When I stretch my left arm to thee,
Enlace me with thy arm."

"Under my eyes keep thine and don't
Let them move on their wheels
And if I lift thee by the waist
Thou must lift on thy heels."

"When I bend down my face, to hold
Thine up must be thy strife;
So, to each other we could throw
Sweet, eager, looks for life."

"And so that thou have about love
A knowledge true and plain,
When I stop to kiss thee, thou must
Kiss me too, and again."

" With much bewilderment her mind
The little boy' s world fills
And shyly and nicely now she
Wills not, and now she wills. "

And slowly she tells him: - " Since thy
Childhood I' ve known thy wit,
And as thou art both glib and small
My temper thou wouldst fit. "

" But Lucifer sprung from the calm
Of the oblivion,
Though, gives horizons, limitess
To the sea lone and dun. "

" And secretely I close my eyes
For my eyelash tears dim
When the waves of the sea go on
Travelling toward him. "

" He shines with love unspeakable
So that my pains he' d leach
But higher and higher soars, so
That his hand I' d ne' er reach. "

" Sadly thrusts from the worlds which from
My soul his cold ray bar . . .
I shall love him, for ever and
For ever he' ll rove far. "

" Like the umeasured steppes my days
Are deaf and wild, therefore,
But my nights spread a holy charm
I understand no more! "

" Thou art a child! Let's go! Through new
Lands our own fate let' s frame!
Soon they shall have trace and
Forgot even our name!

" We shall be both wise, glad, and whole
As my judgement infers
And thou wouldst not long for thy kin
Nor yearm for Lucifers! "

Then Lucifer went out. His wings
Grow, into heavens dash,
And on his way millenniums
Flee in less than a flash.

Below, a depth of stars; above,
The heaven stars begem, -
He seems an endless lightning that
Is wandering through them.

And from the Chaos' vales he sees
How in an immense ring
Round him, as in the World' s first day,
Lights from their sources spring;

How, springing, they hem him like an
Ocean that swimming nears. . .
He flees cared by his disire
Until he disappears.

For that region is boundless and
Searching regards avoids
And Time strives vainly there to come
To life from the dark voids.

' Tis nought. ' Tis, though, thirst that sips him
And which he cannot shun,
' Tis depth unknown, comparable
To blind oblivion.

" From that dark, choking, endlessness
Into which I am furled,
Father, undo me, and for e'er
Be praised in the whole world! "

" Ask anything for this new fate
For with mine I am through;
O, hear my prayer, O, my Lord, for
Thou givest life and death too! "

" Take back my endlessness, the fires
That my being devour
And in return give me a chance
To love but for an hour! "

" I' ve come from Chaos; I' d return
To that my former nest. . .
And as I have been brought to life
From rest, I crave for rest! "

" Hyperion, that comest from
The depths with the world' s swarm.
Do not ask signs and miracles
That have no name nor form. "

" Thou wantest to count among men,
Take their resemblance vein;
But would now the whole mankind die
Men will be born again. "

"But they are building on the wind
Ideals void and blind;
When human waves run into graves
New waves spring from behind."

"Fate's persecution, lucky stars,
They only are to own;
Here we know neither time nor space,
Death we have never known."

"From the eternal yesterday
Drinks what today will drain
And if a sun dies in the sky
A sun quickens again."

Risen as for ever, death though
Follows them like a thorn
For all are born, only to die
And die to be reborn.

"But thou remainest where soe'er
Thou wouldst set down or flee.
Thou art of the prime form and an
Eternal prodigy.

For whom thou wantest them to die?
Just go and see what's worth
All that is waiting there for thee
On that wandering earth !"

His first dominion in the sky
Hyperion restores
And as in his first day, his light
All o'er again he pours.

For it is evening and the night
Her duty never waives.
Now the moon rises quietly
And shaking from the waves.

And upon the paths of the groves
Her sparkles again drone ...
Under the row of linden-trees
Two youths sit all alone.


"O, darling, let my blessed ear feel
How thy heart's pulses beat,
Under the ray of thy eyes clear
And unspeakably sweet."

"With the charms of their cold light pierce
My thought's faery glades,
Pour an eternal quietness
On my passion's dark shades."

"And there, above, remain to stop
Thy woe's violet stream,
For thou art my first source of love
And also my last dream !"

Hyperion beholds how love
Their eyes equally charms;
Scarcely his arm touches her neck,
She takes him in her arms.

The silvery blooms spread their smells
And their soft cascade knocks
The tops of the heads of both youths
With long and golden locks.

And all bewitched by love, she lifts
Her eyes toward the fires
Of the witnessing Lucifer,
And trusts him her desires:

"Descend to me, mild Lucifer,
Thou canst glide on a beam,
Enter my forest and my mind
And o'er my good luck gleam!"

As he did it once, into woods,
On hills, his rays he urges,
Guilding throughout so many wilds
The gleaming, moving, surges.

But he falls not as he did once
From his height into swells:
-"What matters thee, clod of dust, if
'Tis me or someone else?

"You live in your sphere's narrowness
And luck rules over you-
But in my steady world I feel
Eternal, cold and true!"

[sunrise]

THE ONE POSSESSED

by Charles Baudelaire
Translated by William Aggeler


The sun was covered with a crape. Like him,
Moon of my life! swathe yourself with darkness;
Sleep or smoke as you will; be silent, be somber,
And plunge your whole being into Ennui's abyss;

I love you thus! However, if today you wish,
Like an eclipsed star that leaves the half-light,
To strut in the places which Madness encumbers,
That is fine! Charming poniard spring out of your sheath!

Light your eyes at the flame of the lusters!
Kindle passion in the glances of churls!
To me you're all pleasure, morbid or petulant;


Be what you will, black night, red dawn;
There is no fiber in my whole trembling body
That does not cry: 'Dear Beelzebub, I adore you!'

[HPSZolaLuckyStar]

Wow! Awesome! Thanks for sharing these!


Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate,
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are, for good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.

Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletchers
Honest Mans Fortune

[sunrise]

Wow! Awesome! Thanks for sharing these!


Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate,
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are, for good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.

Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletchers
Honest Mans Fortune

❤

[sunrise]

              GLOSS  

By Mihai Eminescu
Translated by Corneliu M. Popescu


"Days go past and days come still 
All is old and all is new, 
What is well and what is ill, 
You imagine and construe; 
Do not hope and do not fear, 
Waves that leap like waves must fall; 
Should they praise or should they jeer, 
Look but coldly on it all". 

Things you'll meet of many a kind, 
Sights and sounds, and tales no end, 
But to keep them all in mind 
Who would bother to attend ?... 
Very little does it matter, 
If you can yourself fulfil, 
That with idle, empty chatter 
"Days go past and days come still". 

Little heed the lofty ranging 
That cold logic does display 
To explain the endless changing 
Of this pageantry of joy, 
And which out of death is growing 
But to last an hour or two; 
For the mind profoundly knowing 
"All is old and all is new". 

As before some troup of actors, 
You before the world remain; 
Act they Gods, or malefactors, 
'Tis but they dressed up again. 
And their loving and their slaying, 
Sit apart and watch, until 
You will see behind their playing 
"What is well and what is ill". 

What has been and what to be 
Are but of a page each part 
Which the world do read is free. 
Yet who knows them off by heart ? 
All that was and is to come  
Prospers in the present too, 
But its narrow modicum 
"You image and construe". 

With the selfsame scales and gauges 
This great universe to weigh, 
Man has been for thousand ages 
Sometimes sad and sometimes gay; 
Other masks, the same old story, 
Players pass and reappear, 
Broken promises of glory; 
"Do not hope and do not fear". 

Do not hope when greed is staring 
O'er the bridge that luck has flung, 
These are fools for not despairing, 
On their brows though stars are hung; 
Do not fear if one or other 
Does his comrades deep enthrall, 
Do not let him call you brother 
"Waves that leap like waves must fall". 

Like the sirens' silver singing 
Men spread nets to catch their prey, 
Up and down the curtain swinging 
Midst a whirlwind of display. 
Leave them room without resistance, 
Nor their commentaries cheer, 
Hearing only from a distance, 
"Should they praise or should they jeer". 

If they touch you, do not tarry, 
Should they curse you, hold your tongue, 
All your counsel must miscarry 
Knowing who you are among. 
Let them muse and let them mingle, 
Let them pass both great and small; 
Unattached and calm and single, 
"Look but coldly on it all". 

"Look but coldly on it all, 
Should they praise or should they jeer; 
Waves that leap like waves must fall, 
Do not hope and do not fear. 
You imagine and construe 
What is well and what is ill; 
All is old and all is new, 
Days go past and days come still". 

[HPSZolaLuckyStar]

If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode.
And pine in vain the sacred seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Don Danko]

I once loved
I looked and longed
Sad and desponded downward I went
Till one night in resolve I stood
What was left and what is gone
What is lost and what is gained
Let the night take me till the dawn
I closed the doors I moved the breath
I fanned the flames I named the names
I broke down the walls I burned the gates
I opened the pathways I lit the lights
The fire raged oh so strong
Lighting strikes the thunder bellows
A world I must burn
The storm this wild night I must ride
In the darkness was light
Things I discovered and mysteries I have known
But never anything as sweet as that
I merged into self given myself to myself
Gone and now returned
I knew one world I had burned
A new world I had returned
A world I had burned

Like the one who hanged
On the Windy Tree
I knew what had claimed him
Had claimed me

[HPSZolaLuckyStar]

Ooh. Love that.

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands,
but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and, following them,
you reach your destiny."

[Don Danko]

Roses are red
and violets are blue
Zola and Mamblah
got played by the Greys
Of course they both
lie to you

[HPSZolaLuckyStar]

Late came the God, having sent his forerunners who were
not regarded--
Late, but in wrath;
Saying: "The wrong shall be paid, the contempt be rewarded
On all that she hath."
He poisoned the blade and struck home, the full bosom receiving
The wound and the venom in one, past cure or relieving.
He made treaty with Time to stand still that the grief might
be fresh--
Daily renewed and nightly pursued through her soul to her
flesh--
Mornings of memory, noontides of agony, midnights unslaked
for her,
Till the stones of the streets of her Hells and her Paradise ached
for her.

So she lived while her body corrupted upon her.
And she called on the Night for a sign, and a Sign was allowed,
And she builded an Altar and served by the light of her Vision--
Alone, without hope of regard or reward, but uncowed,
Resolute, selfless, divine.
These things she did in Love's honour...
What is a God beside Woman? Dust and derision!

Rudyard Kipling