Poets' Corner

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Brazilian Symbolist and erotic poet and feminist activist Gilka Machado (1893-1980), designed by Brazilian artist Fernando Lopes (1936- ), printed by lithography, and issued by Brazil on October 29, 1993 to commemorate the poet's birth centenary, Scott No. 2429, plus an image of a photograph of Gilka Machado, and a stanza (with a rough English translation) from her "Reflections," 1928.

- nethyrk



Almas e borboletas,
não fosse a tentação das cousas rasas;
- o amor de néctar,
- o néctar do amor,
e pairaríamos nos cimos
seduzindo do alto,
admirando de longe!...

Souls and butterflies,
were it not for the temptation of shallow things;
- the love of nectar,
- the nectar of love,
and we would hover on top
seducing from above,
admiring from afar! ...

- Gilka Machado

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Austrian poet Robert Hamerling (1830-1889), designed by Adalbert Pilch (1917-2004), engraved by Kurt Leitgeb, and issued by Austria on March 24, 1980 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the poet's birth, Scott No. 1147, plus an image of a newspaper photo of Robert Hamerling, and a translation of his poem "To B.(Ertha)."


- nethryk



To B.(Ertha)

Child, like a butterfly harmlessly
Fluttering past the pain-racked invalid,
When having seen me begin the homeward journey,
In the wake of suffering
Do not think of me in your flush of youth:
A fleeting thought is all that you would give;
Nor when happily in love, in marriage or in motherhood:
Your memory would be only a pale reflection in the bustle of your life.
Only at sixty years of age, please think of me:
The poor sick man you saw
Year after year stretched on a bed of suffering,
Who, tortured by unceasing pain,
Spoke little, save laborious groans;
Nothing was he to you and nothing could he be.
At sixty years of age, child, think of him:
Then you will muse on him, muse long,
And late, deep compassion will rise in you
For him then long at rest from suffering.
A teardropp fills your eye as offering
For him long paled in death,
Who nothing was to you, and nothing could be.

- Robert Hamerling

Here is an image of a stamp honoring Andrija Kacic Miošic (1704-1760), a Croatian poet and Franciscan monk, designed by Yugoslav artists Matija Zlamalik (1905-1965) and S. Dokic, engraved by Bozidar Kocmut (1899-1977), and issued by Yugoslavia on December 25, 1954 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the poet's birth, Scott No. 416, plus an image of a detail from a statue of Andrija Kacic Miošic created by Croatian sculptor Ivan Rendi#263; (1849-1932). Miošic's most important work is Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskog ("Pleasant Conversation of Slavic People," 1756), a history in verse, in which the poet, influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment, tried to spread literacy and modern ideas among the common people.

- nethryk

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of German poet, essayist, and physician Gottfried Benn (1886-1956), who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times, designed by Werner Hans Schmidt (1944- ), engraved by Hans-Joachim Fuchs, and issued by Germany (Berlin) on May 5, 1986, Scott No. 9N511, Michel No. 760, plus an image of a photograph of Gottfried Benn, and a translation of his poem Ein Schatten an der Mauer ("A Shadow on the Wall"). Bonus: Signature.

- nethryk



A Shadow on the Wall

A shadow on the wall
boughs stirred by the noonday wind
that's enough earth
and for the eye
enough celestial participation.

How much further do you want to go? Refuse
the bossy insistence
of new impressions—

lie there still,
behold your own fields,
your estate,
dwelling especially
on the poppies,
unforgettable
because they transported the summer—

where did it go?

- Gottfried Benn
Translated from German by Michael Hofmann

For a thread that started in 2012, how do you remember to note post the same stamp again? Or is that just like reruns so people forget and see them again?

One way to check if you've posted would be to check your previous uploads.

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Mário Raul de Morais Andrade (1893-1945), a Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian and critic, and photographer, designed by Brazilian artist Fernando Lopes (1936- ), printed by lithography, and issued by Brazil on October 29, 1993 to commemorate the poet's birth centenary, Scott No. 2427, plus an image of a photograph of Mário de Andrade in 1928, and a translation of his poem "The Man Who Walks All Alone."

- nethryk



The Man Who Walks All Alone

That man who walks all alone
Along those squares, those streets,
Has in himself an enormous secret.
He is a man.

That woman like all the others
Along those squares, those streets
Has in herself a cruel surprise.
She is a woman.

The woman meets the man,
They smile and hold hands,
The surprise and the secret expand
Violently.

But the shadow of the restless one
Guards that mystery in the dark.
Death watches with her scythe.
Verily, it is night.

- Mário de Andrade

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Russian poet Aleksey Vasilievich Koltsov (1809-1842), plus an image of the "Mower" which was the subject of one of his poems, designed by Vasili Vasilievich Zavialov (1906-1972), printed by lithography, and issued by Russia (USSR) in April, 1959 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the poet's birth, Scott No. 2178C, Zagorski No. 2205, plus an image of the portrait of Aleksey Koltsov which was a model for this stamp's design, and a translation of one of his poems. Note: Many of Aleksey Koltsov's poems were put to music by such composers as Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov.

- nethryk



Cease thy song, nightingale

Cease thy song, nightingale,
Here before my window!
Fly away, nightingale,
To my village grove.
And there light on the window
Of my sweetheart-love.
Sing to her there a song
Of my anguish, pain.
Say I wither, I die,
Here away from my lass,
As in autumn cold rain
Dies the meadow grass.
Dark the face of the moon
Without her at night,
And the red sun at noon
Wanders low and cold.
Who will call me, caress?
Who will love as she?
On whose breast shall I rest
From men's injury?
And with gladness whose words
Shall I rise to greet?
And whose song will my heart
Rise with joy to meet?
Why dost sing, nightingale,
At my window still?
Fly away, fly away,
To my sweetheart-love!

- Aleksey Koltsov

Translated by Eugene Mark Kayden

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Subramania Bharati (1882-1921), a Tamil poet, writer, journalist, social reformer and Indian independence activist, printed by photogravure, and issued by India on September 11, 1960, Scott No. 331, plus an image of the photograph of Subramania Bharati which was the model for this stamp's design, and a translation of his poem "Did you think I too will." Note: On the stamp, a tilak (a dot symbolizing the third eye of Lord Shiva), which does not appear in the photo, has been placed on the poet's forehead. By ancient Hindu custom, the tilak is worn by the most learned of people who have done meditation and penance for years.

- nethryk



Did you think I too will

Did you think I too will
Spend my days in search of food,
Tell petty tales,
Worry myself with thoughts,
Hurt others by my acts,
Turn senile with grey hair
And end up as fodder to the
relentless march of time
As yet another faceless man?

- Subramanya Bharathi

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a medalllion profile portrait of German poet, writer and botanist Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838), designed by Reinhard Gerstetter (1945- ), printed by lithography, and issued by Germany (Berlin) on January 15, 1981 to commemorate the poet's birth centenary, Scott No. 9N462, Michel No. 638, plus an image of another portrait of Adelbert von Chamisso, and a translation of his humorous poem "The Pigtail."

- nethryk



The Pigtail

There lived a sage in days of yore,
And he a handsome pigtail wore;
But wondered much, and sorrowed more,
Because it hung behind him.

He mused upon this curious case,
And swore he'd change the pigtail's place,
And have it hanging at his face,
Not dangling there behind him.

Says he, "The mystery I've found;
I'll turn me round." He turned him round,
But still it hung behind him.

Then round, and round, and out, and in,
All day the puzzled sage did spin;
In vain -it mattered not a pin -
The pigtail hung behind him.

And right, and left, and round about,
And up, and down, and in, and out
He turned. But still the pigtail stout
Hung steadily behind him.

And though his efforts never slack,
And though he twist, and whirl, and tack,
Alas! still faithful to his back
The pigtail hangs behind him!

- Adelbert von Chamisso

Here is an image of a stamp depicting a memorial statue of Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC- 17/18 AD), known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, designed by Serban Zainea (1907-1990), printed by photogravure, and issued by Romania on September 20, 1957 to commemorate the bimillennium of the poet's birth, Scott No. 1183, plus an image of the statue of Roman poet Ovid in Constanþa, Romania (ancient Tomis, the city where the poet was exiled by the Emperor Augustus in 8 AD), created in 1887 by Italian sculptor Ettore Ferrari (1848-1929), and a translation of Ovid's rather torrid love poem "In Summer's Heat." Note: Ovid was born in Sulmo (modern Sulmona), Italy.

- nethryk



In Summer's Heat

In summer's heat and mid-time of the day,
To rest my limbs upon a bed I lay,
One window shut, the other open stood,
Which gave such light as twinkles in a wood
Like twilight glimpse at setting of the sun,
Or night being past and yet not day begun.
Such light to shamefaced maidens must be shown,
Where they may sport, and seem to be unknown.
Then came Corinna in a long, loose gown,
Her white neck hid with tresses hanging down,
Resembling fair Semiramis going to bed,
Or Lais of a thousand wooers sped.
I snatched her gown, being thin the harm was small,
Yet strived she to be covered therewithal,
And, striving thus as one that would be chaste,
Betrayed herself, and yielded at the last.
Stark naked as she stood before mine eye,
Not one wen in her body could I spy.
What arms and shoulders did I touch and see?
How apt her breasts were to be pressed by me?
How smooth a belly under her waist saw I?
How large a leg, and what a lusty thigh?
To leave the rest, all liked me passing well;
I clinged her naked body, down she fell.
Judge you the rest. Being tired, she bade me kiss.
Jove send me more such afternoons as this.

- Ovid

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of prolific French lyric poet and chansonnier (songwriter) Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780-1857), designed by Sergei A. Pomansky, printed by photogravure, and issued by Russia (USSR) on August 9, 1957 to commemorate the centenary of the poet's death, Scott No. 1980, Zagorski No. 1961, plus an image of a sketch of Pierre-Jean de Béranger, plus a link to a website (in French) providing hyperlinks to his complete works: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/%C5%...%C3%A9ranger

- nethryk

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of German lyric poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), designed by Karl Oskar Blase (1925-2016), printed by lithography, and issued by Germany on December 13, 1972 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of Heine's birth, Scott No. 1098, Michel No. 750, plus an image of an engraved portrait of the poet as a young man, and a translation of Heinrich Heine's poem Wo? ("Where?"), which is engraved on three sides of the poet's tombstone in the Cimetière de Montmartre, in Paris.

- nethryk



Where?

Where shall I, the wander-wearied,
Find my haven and my shrine?
Under palms will I be buried?
Under lindens on the Rhine?

Shall I lie in desert reaches,
Buried by a stranger's hand?
Or upon the well-loved beaches,
Covered by the friendly sand?

Well, what matter! God has given
Wider spaces there than here.
And the stars that swing in heaven
Shall be lamps above my bier.

- Heinrich Heine

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Spanish poet and playwright Rafael Alberti Merello (1902-1999), designed after a photograph by Argentinian photographer Roberto Otero (1931-2004), engraved by Alfredo de Oro Sanz (1962- ), and issued by Spain on March 22, 2001, Scott No. 3085, Edifil No. 3784, plus an image of a photo of Rafael Alberti, and a translation of his poem Pregón ("The Cry").

- nethryk



The Cry

I sell clouds of colours,
Ellipses, reddened
To temper the heat!

I sell purple cirrus,
And pink, dawns
And golden sunsets!

The yellow star
Of the heavenly peach
Caught in the green branches,

I sell the snow, the flame,
And the song of the crier.

- Rafael Alberti

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Dura Jakšic (1832-1878), a Serbian poet, painter, writer, dramatist, bohemian and patriot, designed by Matija Zlamalik (1905-1965), engraved by Stanimir Babic, and issued by Yugoslavia on December 24, 1960, Scott No. 593, plus an image of a photograph of the poet. One of Dura Jakšic's best known poems, "Mila," is about his pining away for an innkeeper's daughter who was his first great love and whom he intended to marry, but he never worked up enough courage to speak even a single word to her.

- nethryk