A tune from Provence

Hear the song of a troubadour, Bertran de Born:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdxaWbQBntw

I'm much indebted to Ezra Pound for introducing me to him.

In for a Penny...in for a Pound!

Today’s offering is from Ezra Pound, a poet whom I never would have guessed I’d like---ever. Well, I’ve been proved wrong. :)

Histrion

No man hath dared to write this thing as yet,
And yet I know, how that the souls of all men great
At times pass through us,
And we are melted into them, and are not
Save reflexions of their souls.
Thus am I Dante for a space and am
One Francois Villon, ballad-lord and thief,
Or am such holy ones I may not write
Lest blasphemy be writ against my name;
This for an instant and the flame is gone.

'Tis as in midmost us there glows a sphere
Translucent, molten gold, that is the "I"
And into this some form projects itself:
Christus, or John, or eke the Florentine;
And as the clear space is not if a form's
Imposed thereon,
So cease we from all being for the time,
And these, the Masters of the Soul, live on.

--From New Selected Poems and Translations by E. Pound, edited by Richard Sieburth

***

That’s it for now. I’m trying to learn touch-typing (from the lessons at http://www.typing-lessons.org/), and when I have, things may get more interesting here (as I’ll be able to make longer posts).

‘Till that time, though, I’ll keep on posting bits and pieces of the brilliance that already lives in the world, as I find them.

Peace.

The Search

I sought my soul,
But my soul I could not see.
I sought my God,
But my God eluded me.
I sought my brother,
And I found all three.



-- Author Unknown

Introduction

Welcome!

The name’s Daniel.

In this quiet corner of the internet I’ll periodically bring attention to things I consider awe-inspiring, lovely or worthy of note.

The name of this site (“Wider Than the Sky") comes from an Emily Dickinson poem:

The Brain – is wider than the Sky –

For – put them side by side –

The one the other will contain

With ease – and You – beside –

The Brain is deeper than the sea –

For – hold them – Blue to Blue –

The one the other will absorb —

As Sponges – Buckets – do –

The Brain is just the weight of God –

For – Heft them – Pound for Pound –

And they will differ – if they do –

As Syllable from Sound –

(Poem number 632 in The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson)

***

Till next time (if there is a next time)...

Peace be with you!