Jena Woodhouse

"Before the sun and the night and the blue sea, I vow to stand faithfully by all that is brave and beautiful; to seek adventure, and having discovered aught of wonder, or delight; of merriment or loveliness, to share it freely with my comrades..."

- from The Argonauts' Pledge, written by Nina Murdoch for the Radio Australia youth programme, The Argonauts' Club -

***

If this page contains anything of worth, I dedicate this to the whales and all creatures in need of protection, and to those who seek to protect them.

***
Летят они, - написанные наспех,
Горячие от горечи и нег.
Между любовью и любовью рaспят
Мой миг, мой час, мой день, мой год, мой век.
И слышу я, что где-то в мире - грозы,
Что амазонок копья блещут вновь…
А я - пера не удержу! Две розы
Сердечную мне высосали кровь.

Марина Цветаева, 1916

*

Если душа родилась крылатой -
Что ей хоромы и что ей хаты!
Что Чингисхан ей - и что - Орда!
Два на миру у меня врага,
Два близнеца - неразрывно-слитых:
Голод голодных - и сытость сытых!

- Марина Цветаева, 18 августа 1918 -

***

I do not write to keep. I write to feel.
I try to touch the body of the instant
with the tips of the words.

- Helene Cixous: "Stigmata" -

***

The purpose of poetry is to remind us
how difficult it is to remain just one person,
for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors,
and invisible guests come in and out at will.

- Czeslaw Milosz: "Ars Poetica" -

***

.......Throw that emptiness
out of your arms and into the air that we breathe:
does it widen the sky for the birds - add zest to their flight?
Yes, YOU were needed. Every Spring needed you.
Even stars relied on your witnessing presence
when a gathering wave surged from the past - or when
some violin utterly offered itself
as you passed by a half-open window.
All this was your mission.

- Rainer Maria Rilke: "The First Elegy" -

***

...the poem...is expressly made to be reborn from its ashes, perpetually to be again what it has been...

...poetry orders the depths of our being, for it aims to provoke or reproduce the unity and harmony of the living person, an extraordinary unity which manifests itself when a person is possessed by an intense feeling which leaves none of his or her powers unaffected.

- Paul Valery -

***
AS MUCH AS YOU CAN

And if you can't shape your life the way you want,
at least try as much as you can
not to degrade it
by too much contact with the world,
by too much activity and talk.

Try not to degrade it by dragging it along,
taking it around and exposing it so often
to the daily silliness
of social events and parties,
until it comes to seem a boring hanger-on.

THERMOPYLAE

Honour to those who in the life they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae.
Never betraying what is right,
consistent and just in all they do
but showing pity also, and compassion;
generous when they are rich,
and when they are poor,
still generous in small ways,
still helping as much as they can;
always speaking the truth,
yet without hating those who lie.

And even more honour is due to them
when they foresee (as many do foresee)
that in the end Ephialtis will make his appearance,
that the Medes will break through after all.

~~~~Konstantinos Kavafis (Constantine Cavafy)~~~~
Translations by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard

***

Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and to follow.
- Chinese proverb -

***

The human body is vapour materialised by sunshine and mixed with the life of stars.

- Paracelsus -

***

Little soul, little wanderer, little charmer,
body's guest and companion,
for which places will you set out now?
For darkling, cold and gloomy ones -
and you won't make your usual jokes.

- Hadrian, emperor of Rome -

* * *
Decalogue of the Artist

I. You shall love beauty, which is the shadow of God
over the Universe.

II.There is no godless art. Although you love not the
Creator, you shall bear witness to Him creating His likeness.

III.You shall create beauty not to excite the senses
but to give sustenance to the soul.

IV. You shall never use beauty as a pretext for luxury
and vanity but as a spiritual devotion.

V. You shall not seek beauty at carnival or fair
or offer your work there, for beauty is virginal
and is not to be found at carnival or fair.

VI. Beauty shall rise from your heart in song,
and you shall be the first to be purified.

VII.The beauty you create shall be known
as compassion and shall console the hearts of men.

VIII.You shall bring forth your work as a mother
brings forth her child: out of the blood of your heart.

IX. Beauty shall not be an opiate that puts you
to sleep but a strong wine that fires you to action,
for if you fail to be a true man or a true woman,
you will fail to be an artist.

X. Each act of creation shall leave you humble,
for it is never as great as your dream and always
inferior to that most marvelous dream of God
which is Nature. (Gabriela Mistral 1889-1957)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Salutations to the poets and readers of stihi.ru on International Poetry Day, March 21!

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