Poets' Corner

Happy Birthday to French poet, writer and politician Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869)! Here is an image of a stamp depicting a statue of Lamartine in Mâcon, his birthplace, and a view of the esplanade in St-Laurent-sur-Saône, designed and engraved by Pierre Albuisson (1952- ), and issued by France on March 28, 2009, Scott No. 3631, Y&T No. 4349, plus a photo of the statue, and a translation of Alphonse de Lamartine's most well known poem, Le Lac ("The Lake"). Note: Lamartine fell in love with Julie Charles, a married woman, after rescuing her from drowning in the Lake Bourget, at the southernmost end of the Jura Mountains, but she died soon afterwards. Returning to the lake in 1817, Lamartine wrote this poem.

- nethryk



The Lake

So then, forever pushed toward new shores like this,
swept away into eternal night without return
on the ocean of the ages-- can we never
cast anchor for a single day?

O lake! the year is scarcely over,
and near the beloved waters that she should have seen again,
look! I've come alone to sit on this stone
where you saw her sitting!

You groaned the same way then under these deep rocks;
you broke the same way on their torn flanks;
the wind threw the foam from your waves the same way
on her adored feet.

One evening, do you remember? We were floating in silence;
on the waves, beneath the sky, there was nothing to hear but
the distant sound of oarsmen beating in rhythm
against your harmonious waves.

Suddenly unearthly accents
came echoing from the enchanted shore:
the water listened, and the voice that I love
let fall these words:

"O time, suspend your flight! and you, happy hours,
suspend your race:
let us savor the fleet delights
of our fairest days!

"Enough unhappy people here beg you--
rush, rush for them;
take their days and the cares that devour them--
forget the happy people.

"But I ask in vain for a few more moments,
time escapes me and flees;
I say to this night: Be slower; and dawn
comes to melt the night.

"Let us love then, let us love! let us revel in
the flying hour-- hurry!
Man has no harbor, Time has no shore;
it flows, and we pass!"

Envious Time, can it be that these euphoric moments,
when love pours out long surges of happiness for us,
fly away from us at the same speed
as the unhappy days?

What! Can't we at least hold on to the traces?
What! gone forever? What! completely lost?
The same Time that gave them, the same Time that erased them,
will never give them back to us?

Eternity, nothingness, Past, dark chasms,
what do you do with the days you engulf?
Speak: will you give us back that sublime ecstasy
that you snatch from us?

O lake! silent rocks! caves! dark forest!
you whom Time spares or can make young again,
beautiful Nature-- keep, keep from that night
at least the memory!

May it be in your rest, may it be in your storms,
beautiful lake, and in the look of your smiling shoreline,
and in these black pines, and in these wild rocks
leaning over your waters.

May it be in the soft wind that shivers and passes,
in the sounds of the lake water lapping your banks,
in the silver-browed star that whitens your surface
with its soft clearness.

May the wind that groans, the reed that sighs,
may the soft scent of your fragrant air,
may everything that is heard, seen or breathed
all say: They loved!

- Alphonse de Lamartine

Here is an image of a stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Jónas Hallgrímsson (1807-1845), an Icelandic poet, author and naturalist, designed by Dagur Hilmarsson, engraved by Martin Mörck, and issued by Iceland on November 8, 2007, Scott No. 1123, plus a translation of Hallgrímsson's lyric poem Dalvisa (Valley Song).

- nethryk



Valley Song

Dandelions, a dazzling mass!
Dimpled berries in the meadow!
Ditches deep in cotton grass!
Dandelions, a golden mass!
In your midst I ache to pass
all my years of sun and shadow!
Dandelions, a dazzling mass!
Dimpled berries in the meadow!

Dashing waters, faithful friends,
foaming over stony ledges
deep in dark sequestered glens!
Dashing waters, ancient friends!
Gushing gullies! elfin dens,
girt with rock along the edges!
Dashing waters, faithful friends,
foaming over stony ledges!

Cloudy river, brisk and bright,
brawling down from mountain passes,
currents crinkling in the light!
Cloudy river, green and bright!
Here contentment nears its height,
here among your flowers and grasses!
Cloudy river, brisk and bright,
brawling down from mountain passes!

Crested summits crowned with snow!
Cliffs that hug the mountain's shoulder!
Keep the country safe below,
crested summits white with snow,
guarding it from gales that blow
grimly as the year turns colder!
Crested summits crowned with snow!
Cliffs that hug the mountain's shoulder!

Summer valley, blissful, blest,
brimmed with sunlight now and ever,
slowly sweeping east to west!
Summer valley, gorgeous, blest!
Childhood's idyll, age's rest
after years of long endeavor!
Summer valley, blissful, blest,
brimmed with sunlight now and ever!

- Jónas Hallgrímsson

Here is an image of a stamp commemorating the 600th anniversary of the birth of Ausiàs March (1400-1459), a medieval poet and knight from Gandia, Valencia, who is considered one of the most important poets of the "Golden Century" (Segle d'or) of Valencian literature, engraved by Juan Carlos Heras Vicario (1961- ), and issued by Spain on September 24, 1997, Scott No. 2910, Edifil No. 3507, plus an image of a statue of Ausiàs March at the Central Municipal Library of Valencia, and a translation of one of his poems, "Like the bull which takes flight into the wilderness."

- nethryk



Like the bull which takes flight into the wilderness

Like the bull which takes flight into the wilderness
when overcome by another which forces him,
and does not return until he musters the strength
to destroy the one which banished him,
so must I also go away from you,
for your gesture has confused my effort;
I shall not return until I have completely banished
the great fear which prevents my happiness.

- Ausiàs March

nethryk - I am glad to see you back reviving this thread.

Cheers!

Florian

This is a folded letter addressed to Lewis William Mansfield, poet & author. Correspondence included is difficult to decipher. Can make out a word here and there but the context remains unclear. Message appears to be related to business. On reverse, message pertains to health issues of a parent. Written clearly and easily read.








Reverse of folded letter



L.W. Mansfield authored works such as Up country Letters and others.

florian - Thanks. Glad to be back.

gettinold - Outstanding post. Thanks for sharing.

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of influential French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), designed by French illustrator Jean-Paul Véret-Lemarinier (1944- ), printed by lithography (EDILA), and issued by Djibouti on June 24, 1985, plus an image of a colorized version of a photo of the poet which was surely the model for this stamp's design, and Rimbaud's sonnet Le Dormeur du Val ("The Sleeper in the Valley," October 1870), with an English translation of this poignant poem which seemed appropriate to me to post here on this, the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

- nethryk



Le Dormeur du Val

C'est un trou de verdure où chante une rivière
Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons
D'argent ; où le soleil, de la montagne fière,
Luit : c'est un petit val qui mousse de rayons.

Un soldat jeune, lèvre bouche ouverte, tête nue,
Et la nuque baignant dans le frais cresson bleu,
Dort ; il est étendu dans l'herbe sous la nue,
Pâle dans son lit vert où la lumière pleut.

Les pieds dans les glaïeuls, il dort. Souriant comme
Sourirait un enfant malade, il fait un somme :
Nature, berce-le chaudement : il a froid.

Les parfums ne font pas frissonner sa narine;
Il dort dans le soleil, la main sur sa poitrine,
Tranquille. Il a deux trous rouges au côté droit.

- Arthur Rimbaud

The Sleeper in the Valley

It is a green hollow where a stream gurgles,
Crazily catching silver rags of itself on the grasses;
Where the sun shines from the proud mountain:
It is a little valley bubbling over with light.

A young soldier, open-mouthed, bare-headed,
With the nape of his neck bathed in cool blue cresses,
Sleeps; he is stretched out on the grass, under the sky,
Pale on his green bed where the light falls like rain.

His feet in the yellow flags, he lies sleeping. Smiling as
A sick child might smile, he is having a nap:
Cradle him warmly, Nature: he is cold.

No odour makes his nostrils quiver;
He sleeps in the sun, his hand on his breast
At peace. There are two red holes in his right side.

- Arthur Rimbaud, translated by Oliver Bernard

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Maithili poet Vidyapati (1352-1448), also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil (the poet cuckoo of Maithili), who is best known for his love songs, printed by photogravure, and issued by India on November 17, 1965, Scott No. 427, plus a translation of Vidyapati's poem "Childhood and Youth."

- nethryk



Childhood and Youth

Childhood and youth are mingled both.
Her eyes have taken the road to her ears:
Wily are her words, and her low laugh
As if the moon appeared on earth.
She takes a mirror to array herself.
And asks: 'what is the game of love, my dear?'
How many times she secretly regards her bosom,
Smiling to see her breasts!
First like a jujube, then like an orange, -
Love day by day enfolds her limbs:
O Madhava, I saw a girl surpassing fair,
Childhood and youth were one in her!
Saith Vidyapati: Oh foolish maid,
The wise would say, the twain have met.

- Vidyapati, translated by Anand K.Coomarswamy.

Here is an image of a stamp designed after a 13th century painting of Lady Ise (c. 875 – c. 938), a Japanese poet in the Imperial court's waka tradition, printed by photogravure, and issued by Japan on April 20, 1960 for Stamp Week, Scott No. 692, plus an image of another painting of Lady Ise, and a translation of one of her poems.

- nethryk



Hanging from the branches of a green
Willow tree,
The spring rain
Is a
Thread of pearls.

- Lady Ise

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Austrian poet and writer Alfons Petzold (1882-1923), designed by Adalbert Pilch (1917-2004), engraved by Werner Pfeiler (1941- ), and issued by Austria on January 26, 1973 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the poet's death, Scott No. 939, and an image of a photograph of Alfons Petzold which was probably the model for this stamp's design, plus his poem entitled "Mädchenbild im Frühling" ("Picture of a young girl in Spring," 1911). Perhaps there is a German-speaker out there who would be kind enough to offer a rough English translation of this poem for us?

- nethryk



Mädchenbild im Frühling

Durch den Klang der jungen Stunde
Eines Frühlingstags erwacht,
Schaut ein Mädchen in die Runde
All der frohen, keuschen Pracht.

Eine weiße Fliederblüte
Hält es lächelnd in der Hand
Und sein Auge wirft die Güte
Keuscher Nächte in das Land.

Rings des Werdens Gottesgröße
Findet noch in ihm das Kind,
Doch wie sich das Rätsel löse,
Schon des Weibes Seele sinnt.

Eines Kindes frohes Wesen
Ruht noch in der Augen Blick,
Dennoch ist in ihm zu lesen
Schon ein heiliges Geschick.

Wie es so im Rausch der Stunde
Dieses Schöpfungstages steht,
Fühlt es schon, wie in der Runde
Die erfüllungsfrohe Kunde
Mütterlichen Ahnens geht.

- Alfons Petzold

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Russian lyric poet Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (1895-1925), and depicting a stand of birch trees, designed by Valeri Pimenov (1920-2008 ), combined engraved by Lidiya Fedorovna Majorova (1927-2008) and photogravure, and issued by Russia (USSR) on September 12, 1975, Scott No. 4369, Zagorski No. 4453, plus a photograph of Sergei Yesenin, and an English translation of his poem "The Birch-Tree" (1913).

- nethryk



The Birch-Tree

Just below my window
Stands a birch-tree white,
Under snow in winter
Gleaming silver bright.

On the fluffy branches
Sparkling in a row
Dangle pretty tassels
Of the purest snow.

There the birch in silence
Slumbers all day long
And the snow gleams brightly
In the golden sun.

And the dawn demurely
Going on its rounds
With a silver mantle
Decks again the boughs.

- Sergey Yesenin

Here is an image of an airmail stamp featuring a portrait of Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío (1867-1916), designed by Mexican graphic artist Salvador Pruneda (1895-1986) after a portrait of the poet by Mexican painter and muralist Alfredo Ramos Martínez (1871-1946), printed by photogravure, and issued by Mexico on March 17, 1966 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the poet's death, Scott No. C312, plus an image of a photograph of Rubén Darío, and an English translation of what is perhaps his most powerful poem, Lo Fatal ("Fatality," 1905).

- nethryk



Fatality

The tree is happy because it is scarcely sentient;
the hard rock is happier still, it feels nothing:
there is no pain as great as being alive,
no burden heavier than that of conscious life.

To be, and to know nothing, and to lack a way,
and the dread of having been, and future terrors...
And the sure terror of being dead tomorrow,
and to suffer all through life and through the darkness,

and through what we do not know and hardly suspect...
And the flesh that tempts us with bunches of cool grapes,
and the tomb that awaits us with its funeral sprays,
and not to know where we go,
nor whence we came! ...

- Rubén Darío

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of German poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), designed and engraved by French artist Eugene Lacaque (1914-2005), and issued by Luxembourg on March 14, 1977 as one of four stamps in a set commemorating "famous visitors" to Luxembourg, Scott No. 593, plus an image of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Portrait en face im Rund (1792), by Swiss copper engraver Johann Heinrich Lips (1758-1817), which may have been a model for this stamp's design, and a translation of Goethe's poem "The Frogs."

- nethryk



The Frogs

A pool was once congeal'd with frost;
The frogs, in its deep waters lost,

No longer dared to croak or spring;
But promised, being half asleep,
If suffer'd to the air to creep,

As very nightingales to sing.

A thaw dissolved the ice so strong,--
They proudly steer'd themselves along,
When landed, squatted on the shore,
And croak'd as loudly as before.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter Musa Cälil (also transliterated as Mussa Djalil, 1906-1944), the only Soviet poet who was simultaneously awarded a Hero of the Soviet Union and the Lenin Prize (both posthumously), designed by A. Zavialov, printed by photogravure, and issued by Russia (USSR) on July 16, 1959, Scott No. 2221, Zagorski No. 2249, plus a photograph of the poet, and an English translation of Musa Cälil's love poem "If You Are Not There."

- nethryk



If You Are Not There

Though mad nightingales their joying
to the springtime garden tell -
Will the world for me be joyless,
if you're not with me as well!

Though the woods and grasses rustle,
though the apple - tree blooms fair,
Still the sweetest fruit is bitter
if my loved one isn't there!

Though the butterflies are flitting
and disporting on the lea -
I'll be sad unless my pretty,
dainty butterfly's with me!

Even angels, even peris*
are for me a host of shades -
If there's not with me my lovely,
my incomparable maid!

- Musa Cälil
Translated by Jessie Davies

Note: In Persian mythology, a peri is a mythical being, such as a genie or fairy.

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Austrian Expressionist poet Georg Trakl (1887-1914), designed by W. Schuler, printed by photogravure, and issued by Austria on November 6, 1989 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the poet's death, Scott No. 1482, plus an image of a photo of Georg Trakl which may have been (in mirror-image) a model for this stamp's design, and a translation of his poem "Winter Evening."

- nethryk



Winter Evening

When snow falls against the window,
Long sounds the evening bell...
For so many has the table
Been prepared, the house set in order.

From their wandering, many
Come on dark paths to this gateway.
The tree of grace is flowering in gold
Out of the cool sap of the earth.

In stillness, wanderer, step in:
Grief has worn the threshold into stone.
But see: in pure light, glowing
There on the table: bread and wine.

- Georg Trakl

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Belgian poet Géo Norge (pseudonym of Georges Mogin, 1898-1990), designed by Anne Velghe (1941- ), printed by photogravure, and issued by Belgium on February 16, 1998 to commemorate the poet's birth centenary, Scott No. 1681, plus a photo of Géo Norge which may have been a model for this stamp's design, and his popular poem Une Chanson ("A Song"), with an English translation of it. Bonus: Signature.

- nethryk



Une Chanson

Une chanson bonne à mâcher
Dure à la dent et douce au cœur.
Ma sœur, il faut pas te fâcher.
Ma sœur.

Une chanson bonne à mâcher
Quand il fait noir, quand il fait peur.
Comme à la lèvre du vacher.
La fleur.

Une chanson bonne à mâcher
Qui aurait le goût du bonheur.
Mon enfance et de tes ruchers
L'odeur.

- Géo Norge

A Song

A good chewing song
Hard to the tooth and soft to the heart.
My sister, you must not get angry.
My sister.

A good chewing song
When it's dark, when it's scary.
As on the cow's lip.
The flower.

A good chewing song
Who would have the taste of happiness.
My childhood and your apiaries
The smell.