O my abandoned youth is dead
Like a garland faded
Here the season comes again
Of suspicion and disdain
The landscape's formed of canvasses
A false stream of blood flows down
And under the tree the stars glow fresh
The only passer by's a clown
The glass in the frame has cracked
An air defined uncertainly
Hovers between sound and thought
Between 'to be' and memory
O my abandoned youth is dead
Like a garland faded
Here the season comes again
Of suspicion and disdain
The Bestiary: or Orpheus's Procession
(Le Bestiaire ou Cortege d'Orphee)
Orpheus
Orpheus, Making Music for the Animals
'Orpheus, Making Music for the Animals'
Adriaen Collaert, 1570 - 1618, The Rijksmuseun
Admire the vital power
And nobility of line:
It's the voice that the light made us understand here
That Hermes
Trismegistus
writes of in Pimander.
Appoloinaire
?
?
?
You've not surprised my secret yet
Already the cortege moves on
But left to us is the regret
of there being no connivance none
The rose floats at the water's edge
The maskers have passed by in crowds
It trembles in me like a bell
This heavy secret you ask now
?
?
?
?
Evening falls and in the garden
Women tell their histories
to Night that not without disdain
spills their dark hair's mysteries
Little children little children
Your wings have flown away
But you rose that defend yourself
Throw your unrivalled scents away
For now's the hour of petty theft
Of plumes of flowers and of tresses
Gather the fountain jets so free
Of whom the roses are mistresses
?
?
?
?
You descended through the water clear
I drowned my self so in your glance
The soldier passes she leans down
Turns and breaks away a branch
You float on nocturnal waves
The flame is my own heart reversed
Coloured as that comb's tortoiseshell
The wave that bathes you mirrors well
?
?
?
?
O my abandoned youth is dead
Like a garland faded
Here the season comes again
Of suspicion and disdain
The landscape's formed of canvasses
A false stream of blood flows down
And under the tree the stars glow fresh
The only passer by's a clown
The glass in the frame has cracked
An air defined uncertainly
Hovers between sound and thought
Between 'to be' and memory
O my abandoned youth is dead
Like a garland faded
Here the season comes again
Of suspicion and disdain
The Bestiary: or Orpheus's Procession
(Le Bestiaire ou Cortege d'Orphee)
Orpheus
Orpheus, Making Music for the Animals
'Orpheus, Making Music for the Animals'
Adriaen Collaert, 1570 - 1618, The Rijksmuseun
Admire the vital power
And nobility of line:
It's the voice that the light made us understand here
That Hermes
Trismegistus
writes of in Pimander.
The Tortoise
Feeling
'Feeling'
Raphael Sadeler (I), 1581, The Rijksmuseun
From magic Thrace, O delerium!
My sure fingers sound the strings.
The creatures pass to the sounds
Of my tortoise, and the songs I sing.
The Horse
Pegasus
'Pegasus'
Jacopo de' Barbari, 1509 - 1516, The Rijksmuseun
My harsh dreams knew the riding of you
My gold-charioted fate will be your lovely car
That for reins will hold tight to frenzy,
My verses, the patterns of all poetry.
The Tibetan Goat
Hilly Landscape with Two Goats
'Hilly Landscape with Two Goats'
Reinier van Persijn, Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, Nicolaes Visscher (I), 1641, The Rijksmuseun
The fleece of this goat and even
That gold one which cost such pain
To Jason's not worth a sou towards
The tresses with which I'm taken.
The Serpent
The Fall
'The Fall'
Anonymous, Hieronymus Cock, c.
1558 - c.
1570, The Rijksmuseun
You set yourself against beauty.
And how many women have been
victims of your cruelty!
Eve, Eurydice, Cleopatra:
I know three or four more after.
The Cat
The Large Cat
'The Large Cat'
Cornelis Visscher (II), 1657, The Rijksmuseun
I wish there to be in my house:
A woman possessing reason,
A cat among books passing by,
Friends for every season
Lacking whom I'm barely alive.
The Lion
Wild Animals
'Wild Animals'
Caspar Luyken, Christoph Weigel, 1695 - 1705, The Rijksmuseun
O lion, miserable image
Of kings lamentably chosen,
Now you're only born in a cage
In Hamburg, among the Germans.
The Hare
River Landscape with Hare
'River Landscape with Hare'
Abraham Genoels, Adam Frans van der Meulen, Lodewijk XIV, 1650 - 1690, The Rijksmuseun
Don't be fearful and lascivious
Like the hare and the amorous.
But always let your brain weave
The full form that conceives.
The Rabbit
Rabbits
'Rabbits'
Frederick Bloemaert, Abraham Bloemaert, Nicolaes Visscher (I), after 1635 - 1670, The Rijksmuseun
There's another cony I remember
That I'd so like to take alive.
