Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Poetry for Wednesday


Reading Hamlet
by Anna Akhmatova (translation by Stanley Kunitz)


A barren patch to the right of the cemetery, behind it a river flashing blue.

You said: "All right then, get thee to a nunnery, or go get married to a fool..."

It was the sort of thing princes always say, but these are the words that one remembers. May they flow a hundred centuries in a row like an ermine mantle from his shoulders.

--------

Hamlet
From the Poems of Yuri Zhivago (translation by Bernard Guerney)


The stir is over. I step forth on the boards.
Leaning against an upright at the entrance,
I strain to make the far-off echo yield
A cue to the events that may come in my day.

Night and its murk transfix and pin me,
Staring through thousands of binoculars.
If Thou be willing, Abba, Father,
Remove this cup from me.

I cherish this, Thy rigorous conception,
And I consent to play this part therein;
But another play is running at this moment,
So, for the present, release me from the cast.

And yet, the order of the acts has been schemed and plotted,
And nothing can avert the final curtain's fall.
I stand alone. All else is swamped by Pharisaism.
To live life to the end is not a childish task.

--------


Am thoroughly entranced with 's commentary on last night's Smallville episode, which is here.

Re: my friend who is ill: thanks so much everyone who sent good wishes. She was supposed to have surgery last week but her condition is so complicated that they couldn't operate. They're going to try drugs and steroids for now.

Stolen wholesale from my beloved : The Fellowship of the Gay. From the Toronto Star almost a year ago, but I missed it at the time. I'm even going to steal Twink's favorite quote:

"The adoring Sam trots along behind Frodo with canine devotion, and hostility between the fellowship's two hunky homo sapiens, [Viggo] Mortensen and Sean Bean, is revealed in the field of battle (against those hell-spawn) for the displaced manly affection it is.

Apart from the final moments of the movie itself, in which Frodo looks at Sam with such limpid affection you think the two of them are going to capsize the boat they're in, The Fellowship Of The Ring's most emotionally convincing moment comes when one of these guy's guys -- stuck full of arrows like Caravaggio's Sebastian -- expires in the arms of the other. Certainly it's a lot more convincing than the moment back up the road with that elf chick."

Oh yes. This just makes my evening. And my friends wonder why I slash.

First saw this on 's LJ:

href="http://quizilla.com/users/midnightdancer/quizzes/What%20Famous%20Painter%2
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What Famous Painter ARE
YOU?

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And am posting this in gratitude for the free CoffeeCup Password Keeper:


I know I owe lots of letters and feedback and stuff, but since the Devil's minion utterly distracted me yesterday I am running late on everything again. And I HAVE to get work done today. Bear with me! Tonight I must watch Dawson's Creek. Because yes, I am that shallow, and I love their soundtrack. Am still in love with , , and lots of you, by the way.

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