To Autumn

I
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

II
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

III
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

 John Keats , 1795-1821

The Haunted Hause

There's a house up the hilltop
We will not go inside
For that is where the witches live
Where ghotsts and goblins hide

Tonight they have their party
All the lights are burning bright
But oh we will not go inside
The haunted house tonight

The demons there are whirling
And the spirits swirl about
They sing their songs to Halloween
Come join the fun they shout

But we do not want to go there
So we run with all our might
And oh we will not go inside
The haunted house tonight.

- Jack Prelutsky.

Happy Halloween!

photo: desolate house, Hanstholm:gb

The Oak

Live thy Life,
Young and old,
Like yon oak,
Bright in spring,
Living gold;

Summer-rich
Then; and then
Autumn-changed
Soberer-hued

Alfred Lord Tennyson
1809-1892

photo Boller Castle: grethe bachmann

The Mermaid

The Mermaid by
Lord Alfred Tennyson

Who would be
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,
In a golden curl
With a comb of pearl,
On a throne?

I would be a mermaid fair;
I would sing to myself the whole of the day;
With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;
And still as I comb'd I would sing and say,
'Who is it loves me? who loves not me?'
I would comb my hair till my ringlets would fall
Low adown, low adown,
From under my starry sea-bud crown
Low adown and around,
And I should look like a fountain of gold
Springing alone
With a shrill inner sound
Over the throne
In the midst of the hall;
Till that great sea-snake under the sea
From his coiled sleeps in the central deeps
Would slowly trail himself sevenfold
Round the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate
With his large calm eyes for the love of me.
And all the mermen under the sea
Would feel their immortality
Die in their hearts for the love of me.

But at night I would wander away, away,
I would fling on each side my low-flowing locks,
And lightly vault from the throne and play
With the mermen in and out of the rocks;
We would run to and fro, and hide and seek,
On the broad sea-wolds in the crimson shells,
Whose silvery spikes are nighest the sea.
But if any came near I would call and shriek,
And adown the steep like a wave I would leap
From the diamond-ledges that jut from the dells;
For I would not be kiss'd by all who would list
Of the bold merry mermen under the sea.
They would sue me, and woo me, and flatter me,
In the purple twilights under the sea;
But the king of them all would carry me,
Woo me, and win me, and marry me,
In the branching jaspers under the sea.
Then all the dry-pied things that be
In the hueless mosses under the sea
Would curl round my silver feet silently,
All looking up for the love of me.
And if I should carol aloud, from aloft
All things that are forked, and horned, and soft
Would lean out from the hollow sphere of the sea,
All looking down for the love of me.

photo:gb

The Cat and the Moon

Karel Appel, Cat
Herning Kunstmuseum

The cat went here and there
and the moon spun round like a top,
and the nearest kin of the moon,
the creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
for, wander and wail as he would,
the pure cold light in the sky
troubled his animal blood.

Minnaloushe runs in the grass
lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
what better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
tired of that courtly fashion,
a new dance turn.

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
from moonlit place to place,
the sacred moon overhead
has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
will pass from change to change,
and that from round to crescent,
from crescent to round they range?

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
alone, important and wise,
and lifts to the changing moon
his changing eyes.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)


photo Herning Kunstmuseum 2004: grethe bachmann

A Divine Image

Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secrecy the human dress.

The human dress is forged iron,
The human form a fiery forge,
The human face a furnace sealed,
The human heart its hungry gorge.

William Blake (1757-1827)

photo: Japanese glass art, Ebeltoft Glass Museum, 2002

A Thing of Beauty

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.

Nor do we merely feel these essences
For one short hour; no, even as the trees
That whisper round a temple become soon
Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon,
The passion poesy, glories infinite,
Haunt us till they become a cheering light
Unto our souls, and bound to us so fast
That, whether there be shine or gloom o'ercast,
They always must be with us, or we die.

Therefore, 'tis with full happiness that I
Will trace the story of Endymion.
The very music of the name has gone
Into my being, and each pleasant scene
Is growing fresh before me as the green
Of our own valleys: so I will begin
Now while I cannot hear the city's din;
Now while the early budders are just new,
And run in mazes of the youngest hue
About old forests; while the willow trails
Its delicate amber; and the dairy pails
Bring home increase of milk. And, as the year
Grows lush in juicy stalks, I'll smoothly steer
My little boat, for many quiet hours,
With streams that deepen freshly into bowers.
Many and many a verse I hope to write,
Before the daisies, vermeil rimmed and white,
Hide in deep herbage; and ere yet the bees
Hum about globes of clover and sweet peas,
I must be near the middle of my story.
O may no wintry season, bare and hoary,
See it half finished: but let Autumn bold,
With universal tinge of sober gold,
Be all about me when I make an end!
And now at once, adventuresome, I send
My herald thought into a wilderness:
There let its trumpet blow, and quickly dress
My uncertain path with green, that I may speed
Easily onward, thorough flowers and weed.

John Keats
1795-1821

photo:gb

The Rose in His Heart..............

ALL things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,
The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,
The heavy steps of the ploughman, splashing the wintry mould,
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
I hunger to build them anew and sit on a green knoll apart,
With the earth and the sky and the water, re-made, like a casket of gold
For my dreams of your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

William Butler Yeats
1865-1939

photo Boller Castle:gb

Tove Ditlevsen, Danmark, 1917-1976

Der bor en ung pige -

Der bor en ung pige i mig, som ikke vil dø,
hun er ikke længere mig, og jeg ikke hende,
men hun stirrer på mig fra spejlet, i øjnenes sø,
som søger hun noget, hun ikke mere kan finde.

Hun har ikke andre i verden at spørge end mig:
hvor er mine drømme? og hvor er min tyveårs glæde?
Hvor er de uskyldige smil, den alvorlige leg?
Hvordan er mit pund forvaltet i årenes kæde?

Jeg prøver at fange det blege og lysende blik,
jeg prøver at holde den spørgende stemme tilbage,
og hører i hjertet en mild og bedrøvet musik,
en regnvejrstone af sagte dryppende klage.

"Din drøm var skrøbelig barn og dømt til at dø,
din renhed blev mindre ren af de ting du lærte -
mod stenbroen faldt dine fine og frugtbare frø
en aften, da virkeligheden brød ind i dit hjerte.

Du havde en pigelig drøm om et barn og en mand,
og du fik, hvad du pegede på, men var stadig alene,
så blev du tilbage i barndommens undrende land,
mens jeg går omkring og er til i en verden af stene.

Og det er din styrke og trøst, at du ikke er død,
men lever et sted som en spinkel og vigende skygge,
endskønt jeg har solgt dine drømme for hus og for brød,
og trukket dig ned i en smerte, der minder om lykke.

Og der er min frelse, at jeg kan fornemme din røst
som bølgeslag i mit blods tungsindige vandring -
du er mit forsvar, min uro og dybeste trøst,
bestandig og god gennem årenes liv og forandring."

Der bor en ung pige i mig, der ikke kan dø,
før jeg selv blir træt af at tro, at jeg engang var hende,
hun stirrer imod mig fra spejlet, i øjnenes sø,
efter noget, der altfor ofte er svært at finde.

Tove Ditlevsen, Kvindesind, 1955.

photo Ebeltoft Glasmuseum : grethe bachmann

Les Fleurs Du Mal

Les Chats



Les amoureux fervents et les savants austères
Aiment également, dans leur mure saison,
Les chats puissants et doux, orgueil de la maison,
Qui comme eux sont frileux et comme eux sédentaires.

Amis de la science et da la volupté,
Ils cherchent le silence et l'horreur des ténèbres;
L'Erèbe les eût pris pour ses coursiers funèbres,
S'ils pouvaient au servage incliner leur fierté.

Ils prennent en songeant les nobles attitudes
Des grands sphinx allongés au fond des solitudes,
Qui semblent s'endormir dans un rêve sans fin;

Leurs reins féconds sont pleins d'étincelles magiques,
Et des parcelles d'or, ainsi qu'un sable fin,
Etoilent vaguement leurs prunelles mystiques.

Charles Baudelaire
(1821-1867)

LES FLEURS DU MAL
(1857)

^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
Cats
Translation by Richard Howard 1982

Lovers, scholars - the fervent, the austere -
grow equally fond of cats, their household pride.
As sensitive as either to the cold,
as sedentary, though so strong and sleek,

your cat, a friend to learning and to love,
seeks out both silence and the awesome dark...
Hell would have made the cat its courier
could it have controverted feline pride!

Dozing, all cats assume the svelte design
of desert sphinxes sprawled in solitude,
apparantly transfixed by endless dreams;

their teeming loins are rich in magic sparks,
and golden specks like infinitesimal sand
glisten in those enigmatic eyes.

^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^

photo: gb

Rabindranath Tagore

photo: gb

Lotus

On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying,

and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded.

Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my

dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind.

That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed to

me that is was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion.

I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this

perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart.

GITANJALI "Song Offerings" Translations made by the author from the original Bengali.

Rabindranath Tagore, India: Poet, Philosopher, Musician, Writer, Educator, Nobel Laureate (1861-1941)

Russian Poetry

ALEXANDER PUSHKIN (1799-1837)
Winter morning Cold frost and sunshine: day of wonder! But you, my friend, are still in slumber - Wake up, my beauty, time belies: You dormant eyes, I beg you, broaden Toward the northerly Aurora, As though a northern star arise! Recall last night, the snow was whirling, Across the sky, the haze was twirling, The moon, as though a pale dye, Emerged with yellow through faint clouds. And there you sat, immersed in doubts, And now, - just take a look outside: The snow below the bluish skies, Like a majestic carpet lies, And in the light of day it shimmers. The woods are dusky. Through the frost The greenish fir-trees are exposed; And under ice, a river glitters. The room is lit with amber light. And bursting, popping in delight Hot stove still rattles in a fray. While it is nice to hear its clatter, Perhaps, we should command to saddle A fervent mare into the sleight? And sliding on the morning snow Dear friend, we'll let our worries go, And with the zealous mare we'll flee. We'll visit empty ranges, thence, The woods, which used to be so dense And then the shore, so dear to me. photo:gb

Emily Dickinson

THE DAISY FOLLOWS SOFT THE SUN

HE daisy follows soft the sun,

And when his golden walk is done,

Sits shyly at his feet.

He, waking, finds the flower near.

"Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?"

"Because, sir, love is sweet!"







We are the flower, Thou the sun!

Forgive us, if as days decline,

We nearer steal to Thee,--

Enamoured of the parting west,

The peace, the flight, the amethyst,

Night's possibility!




by: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

photo: gb

Shakespeare in Winter

Spring and Winter ii

When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit!
To-who!--a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doe blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit!
To-who!--a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

William Shakespeare

photo:gb

Nature - A Butterfly

FROM cocoon forth a butterfly
As lady from her door
Emerged—a summer afternoon—
Repairing everywhere,
Without design, that I could trace,
Except to stray abroad
On miscellaneous enterprise
The clovers understood.
Her pretty parasol was seen
Contracting in a field
Where men made hay, then struggling hard
With an opposing cloud,
Where parties, phantom as herself,
To Nowhere seemed to go
In purposeless circumference,
As ’t were a tropic show.
And notwithstanding bee that worked,
And flower that zealous blew,
This audience of idleness
Disdained them, from the sky,
Till sundown crept, a steady tide,
And men that made the hay,
And afternoon, and butterfly,
Extinguished in its sea. Emily Dickinson Nature V