The Lovers’ Chronicle 16 January – wave on – verse by Robert Service – art by Aristarkh Lentulov

Dear Zazie,  Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag dedicated to his muse.  Follow us on twitter @cowboycoleridge.  What is it with pretendin’?  Are you lookin’ for redemption?  Has it come upon you wave on wave?  Rhett

The Lover’s Chronicle

Dear Muse,

wave on baby
wave of reflections
once measured in years,
now measured in days
lyin’ down
and holdin’ on
bodies, desire
kissin’ the one
softly caressin’
answerin’ the call
bein’ half of a whole
joyfully at your curves,
strong, gentle, insistent
takin’ you
where you want to go

© copyright 2021 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

finished
played all the parts
wearied, free of fear
scan the thoughts
which are all

come redemption
rise up and give

smile
in the tremblin’
thirst
come and slake

quiver
in the present
pale blue eyes
from the ill suffered
just wish to see

© copyright 2019 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

wave of reflection
lyin’ down, once
full-blooded
body, heaved up,
vast desire
longin’ for the days
of fervent wants
among the waves,
wantin’ to kiss the One
longin’ for the time,
when, softly kissin’,
softly caressin’,
lips formin’ a hymn
standin’ on the plain,
hearin’ the wind

answerin’ the call
longin’ for the time
bein’ half of a whole
body through depths,
streams of life
joyfully at her curves,
strong, gentle, insistent

risin’ in the first light
flesh pulsin’ in the wave,
in rhythm and rhyme
still believe in you
flesh, in you i believe, yes,
yes, even after, wish to live
render divine, bring light
slowly ascend, unbound,
from self imposed exile
times come, and gone
might come again

© copyright 2018 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

This one was inspired by Rimbaud’s poem “Soleil et Chair” (Sun and Flesh) and by the Song of the Day.  Hope you enjoy,

Waves Of Redemption

Wave of reflection, burnin’ hot
Lyin’ down in the valley, once
Nubile and full-blooded
Body, heaved up, made of flesh,
The vast pululation of desire
Longin’ for the days of youth,
Of fervent wants, mad with lust
Among the waves, kissed the One
Longin’ for the time, tremblin’,
When, softly kissin’, softly caressin’,
Lips formin’ a great hymn
When, standin’ on the plain,
Hearin’ round about the wind
Answerin’ the call
Longin’ for the time of two as one,
Splendid body through depths,
Streams of life
Joyfully at her curves,
Strong, gentle and insistent

Misfortune, not understandin’ things,
Goin’ about with eyes shut, ears closed
And what of faith
If only sustenance still drawn
If only not forsaken long ago
Risin’ in the first light
Of blue waters, flesh pulsin’ in the wave,
And, love made in rhythm and rhyme
Believe, still believe in you
The path, bitter harness
Flesh, in you I believe, yes,
Sad under the vast sky
Yes, even after, wish to live
Render divine, bring light
Slowly ascend, unbounded,
From self imposed exile,
No longer knows even how
If only the times which have come,
Come and gone might come again

Finished; played all the parts
In broad daylight, wearied
Free of all fears, scan the skies
Ideal, eternal, invincible thought, which is all;
Livin’ flesh, will rise, mount, burn beneath
Free from all fear, come redemption
Resplendent, radiant,
Rise up and give
Eternal smile
Vibrate like a lyre
In the tremblin’
Thirst: come and slake its thirst.

Sudden blaze of beauty
Quiver in the altar of the flesh
In the present good, pale from the ill suffered,
Wish to plumb all depths, and know all things
Thought, so long oppressed, springs
Know why… Let her gallop free,
Find faith; why the blue silence,
Why the golden stars, teemin’ like sands
If ascend forever, what would be there
A journey through this unfathomable space
In the solitude, tremble,
Tremble at the tones of an eternal voice
See, say: I believe; Is this anymore than a dream
Born so quickly, life so short, whence does it come
To love in the rose and to grow in the stone…

Cannot know, weighed down with a cloak of ignorance,
Hemmed in by chimeras, dropped from wombs,
Feeble reason hides the infinite
Wish to perceive: doubt punishes
Doubt, dismal, beat down
And the horizon rushes away in endless flight…

Mysteries lie among the splendour
A song rises towards the light…
Redemption;
Splendour of flesh, splendour of her
Renewal, triumphal dawn
Beneath outstretched tears
On the shore, out there on the waves,
The sail flyin’ white under the sun,
Sweet one on whom night has broken,
Be silent; Drawn through waves by desire
Nude body shivers in the waves
Slowly, turn dreamy eye towards her
She leans her pale cheek, eyes closed
Dyin’ in a divine kiss, and murmurin’ waters
Between the waves, slip amorously
The great dreamin’, while time goes by,
Strangely beautiful, archin’ the curves
Proudly displays the golden vision of her body
In his strength, his body with skin as with glory
Faces the horizons, his brow terrible and sweet
Vaguely lit by the summer moon, erect, naked
Dreamin’ in pallor of gold streaked
By the heavy wave of her hair
In the shadowy glade where stars spring,
Gaze up at the silent sky…
Throw a kiss in a pale beam…
The sobs far off in a long ecstasy…
Dreams of the one his wave pressed against
Soft wind of love passed in the night,
And in the mountains, amid the woods,
Erect in majesty, listen to the wind,
To the one sent to save,
To the dream of redemption,
Comin’ wave on wave

© copyright 2013 mac tag/Cowboy Coleridge all rights reserved

The Song of the Day is “Wave on Wave” by Pat Green.  (C) 2003 Universal Motown Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc

 

Robert Service
Robert W. Service.jpg

Robert W. Service, c. 1905

Today is the birthday of Robert William Service (Preston, Lancashire, England; January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958 Lancieux, Côtes-d’Armor, France); poet and writer who has often been called “the Bard of the Yukon”.  Perhaps best known for his poems “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough (1907; also published as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses).

Service left Glasgow,Scotland and moved to Canada at the age of 21 and travelled to Vancouver Island, British Columbia with a Buffalo Bill outfit and dreams of becomin’ a cowboy.  He drifted around western North America, “wandering from California to British Columbia,” takin’ and quittin’ a series of jobs: “Starving in Mexico, residing in a California bordello, farming on Vancouver Island and pursuing unrequited love in Vancouver.”  Rhett told me this sounds like his kind of existence.

The unrequited love Service spoke of was Constance MacLean.  He was workin’ as a farm labourer and store clerk when he first met MacLean at a dance in Duncan, British Columbia, where she was visitin’ her uncle.  MacLean lived in Vancouver, on the mainland, so he courted her by mail.  Though he was smitten, MacLean was lookin’ for a man of education and means to support her, so she was not interested.  It appears that after he became successful from his writin’, she agreed to become engaged to him, but after that she became lost to history.

My friend Jett and I could write volumes on unrequited love.  Jett was once in unrequited love with two different women at the same time.

Verse

Just have one more try – it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

Oh it is good to ride and run,
To roam the reenwood
wild and free;
To hunt, to idle in the sun,
To leap into the laughing sea
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

I count each day a little life,
With birth and death complete;
I cloister it from care and strife
And keep it sane and sweet.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

Marriage is a bachelor’s punishment for his sins
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

The world is full of scribbling Nobodies
who think they’re scribbling Somebodies.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

Dignity is a tin god in the temple of bunk.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

After fifty don’t go to a funeral if you can avoid it.
It’s bad enough to go to your own when times comes.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

Wisdom is peace, peace wisdom.
Both are born of a humble heart and a nourished gratitude.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

Nature is the nest professor in the end.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

Some praise the Lord for Light,
The living spark;
I thank God for the Night
The healing dark.
*ServiceWise & OtherWise (1942)

Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear,
And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear;
With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold,
A half-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold;
While high overhead, green, yellow and red, the North Lights swept in bars? –
Then you’ve a hunch what the music meant . hunger and night and the stars.

Aristarkh Lentulov
Aristarkh Lentulov (1882-1943).jpg

Aristarkh Vasilyevich Lentulov, c.1930

Today is the birthday of Aristarkh Vasilyevich Lentulov (Nizhny Lomov in Penza Oblast; January 16, 1882 – April 15, 1943 Moscow); avant-garde artist of Cubist orientation who also worked on set designs for the theatre.

Gallery 

Portrait of four

Portrait of four

Milk woman

Milk woman

nude

nude

Mac Tag

Share This Post

Trackback URL

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments on "The Lovers’ Chronicle 16 January – wave on – verse by Robert Service – art by Aristarkh Lentulov"

Hi Stranger, leave a comment:

ALLOWED XHTML TAGS:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Subscribe to Comments