The Lovers’ Chronicle 6 February – silent – verse by Ugo Foscolo

The Lovers’ Chronicle 6 February – silent – verse by Ugo Foscolo – art by Othon Friesz

06 February 2024 By Rhett 0 In Love, Poems, Random, Songs

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag. Follow us on twitter @cowboycoleridge. Who can still to rest, your pain, your silent dream? Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

“Why so quiet”
it is my first best destiny
“But not your most entertaining”
true, but you get enough of that
“When the full moon lights the way”
yes, and when the words flow
as if there is no turnin’ back
“And there can’t be”
right, the beauty, palpable
waitin’ for discovery

and hope,

pulses strong

time enough

to paint over,

create what will come

unanswered prayers

only you could still to rest

finally shed

that closed in feelin’,

the fear of bein’ known

i was just never sure

if there was anyone inside

worth havin’

and there was not

until us

silence gleams cold
night wind moans
what life beyond
so the dream below

thoughts of unquestionin’ eyes
and hope, pulses yet
much to surprise

possibly time enough
to paint over,
create what will come

breath of unanswered prayers
beyond all, only you
can still to rest

Pale Love, Pale Rider

never could shed
that closed in feelin’
a fear of bein’ known
i expect
i was just never sure
if there was anyone inside

certainly no one worthy
sure that was it
or maybe it was
that the right one
never came along
to help still to rest
the constant need

Silent Dream

Silent stars gleam so cold,
Night wind moans, leafless trees rattle
What life beyond this stream,
So sleeps the ice-clad dream below

So silent beats the pulse,
So shines thoughts of unquestioned eyes
Life, why yet so helpless
Loveliness, why seem so surprised

To laugh to leap again
A love to which life’s pulses fly
And hopes now all of light,
Like lustres in the veil of eyes

Bold action has vision,
Courage sounds from the cold-bound depths
Grant the age old wisdom,
Beauty could paint over the frost

Passion’s heat, promise lies
In the final act, hidden pride
Thus might shape forever,
A lost soul, innocence abides

Breath of unanswered prayers
Silent dream, grief, in vain or not
Beyond woe, beyond all,
Pain, only you can still to rest

The Song of the Day is “Silent Dream” by Tron Syversen. We do not own the rights to his song. No copyright infringement intended. All rights reseved by the rightful owner.

Niccolò Ugo Foscolo

Today is the birthday of Ugo Foscolo (6 February 1778 in Zakynthos, Republic of Venice, now Greece – 10 September 1827 in Turnham Green); writer, revolutionary and poet.

He is remembered especially for his 1807 poetry book, Dei Sepolcri.

Verse

From Dei Sepolcri, 1807

All’ombra de’ cipressi e dentro l’urne
confortate di pianto è forse il sonno
della morte men duro? Ove piú il Sole
per me alla terra non fecondi questa
bella d’erbe famiglia e d’animali,
e quando vaghe di lusinghe innanzi
a me non danzeran l’ore future,
né da te, dolce amico, udrò piú il verso
e la mesta armonia che lo governa,
né piú nel cor mi parlerà lo spirto
delle vergini Muse e dell’amore,
unico spirto a mia vita raminga,
qual fia ristoro a’ dí perduti un sasso
che distingua le mie dalle infinite
ossa che in terra e in mar semina morte?

Lines 1–15 English translation by Ugo Foscolo himself:
Beneath the cypress shade, or sculptured urn
By fond tears watered, is the sleep of death
Less heavy? — When for me the sun no more
Shall shine on earth, to bless with genial beams
This beauteous race of beings animate —
When bright with flattering hues the coming hours
No longer dance before me — and I hear
No more, regarded friend, thy dulcet verse,
Nor the sad gentle harmony it breathes —
When mute within my breast the inspiring voice
Of youthful poesy, and love, sole light
To this my wandering life — what guerdon then
For vanished years will be the marble reared
To mark my dust amid the countless throng
Wherewith the Spoiler strews the land and sea

In addition, he wrote a poem, “Alla Sera” (In the Evening or Nightfall) that served as inspiration for the Poem of the Day:

Nights Without You

Perhaps because you understood
The silence that I felt
I cherished when you came to me
And calmed me
Whether under summer clouds
And warm winds
Or when winter sent restless
And long shadows
You always came, desired by me
And the secret pathways of my heart
You gently held
You made me wander with my thoughts
On paths that kept me
From the eternal void

And at long last, the pain and anger
That roared within me slept
Now the nights are without you
And the torment does not sleep

The Song of the Day is “Nights are Forever Without You” England Dan and John Ford Coley.

Othon Friesz
Photograph from c.1930

Today is the birthday of Achille-Émile Othon Friesz (Le Havre 6 February 1879 – 10 January 1949 Paris), who later called himself Othon Friesz; artist of the Fauvist movement.

Othon Friesz is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.

Gallery

Tentation

Femme à la Chaise Longue

Nu se trouvant dans un paysage

Nu ALLONGÉE

- Paysage à La Ciotat, 1907, oil on canvas, 59.9 x 72.9 cm
- Le Travail à l’Automne, 1907–1908, oil on canvas, 200.5 x 250 cm, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
- Les Baigneuses des Andelys (The Bathers of Andelys), 1908, oil on canvas, 97 x 162 cm, Musée du Petit Palais, Geneva
- Roofs and Cathedral in Rouen, 1908, oil on canvas. 119 x 95.5 cm. In the collection of the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
- Landscape with Figures, 1909, oil on canvas. 65 x 83 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Les remparts de Saint-Malo , 1935, oil on canvas, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi
  
  Jardin à Honfleur (1902), Toulouse, Fondation Bemberg.
  
  Un dimanche à Honfleur (1907), Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec.
  
  Rouen (1908), Saint-Pétersbourg, musée de l’Ermitage.
  
  Paysage sur la terrasse (1909), Toulouse, Fondation Bemberg.
  
  Annamites dans un camp d’aviation (1917), Paris, musée de l’Armée.
  
  Les remparts de Saint-Malo (1935), Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec.