i cannot set the sky ablaze for you.
i am neither the sun of poetry nor its mystery
(as for centuries many have claimed).
but i can set my roses ablaze for you
and the word 'roses'
and the silence of its burning
once more
until the emptiness is filled
with all the roses that have ever been
and all the roses that might ever be.
(no emptiness can ever contain the roses
that should have been -
only my body, ablaze).
i am neither the sun of poetry nor its mystery
(as for centuries many have claimed).
but i can set my roses ablaze for you
and the word 'roses'
and the silence of its burning
once more
until the emptiness is filled
with all the roses that have ever been
and all the roses that might ever be.
(no emptiness can ever contain the roses
that should have been -
only my body, ablaze).
oh my, I hope the subject of your work receives it well.
ReplyDeleteI think you have captured the elusive amore
(I am always glad to see you have posted something new. This one was fantastic)
This is such a great photo (and post) roxana...lovely seventies feel to it, almost mystical.
ReplyDeleteJe danse avec tes roses, et me fond en elles. Tourner, vibrer, s'enivrer puis s'évanouir.
ReplyDeleteein blutendes Herz... und ich denke, dass gerade dies das absolut Fantastische an den grossen Dichtern war und ist, dass sie trotz blutendem Herzen immer Ausschau gehalten haben, nach dem, was schön, tief und überweltlich ist. Für mich bist Du als Dichterin die Sonne, liebe Roxana (und als Mensch bist Du es sicher auch)!
ReplyDeleteDer, der wirklich Stärke zeigt, ist für mich ein Mensch, der den Schmerz nicht von sich weist und doch glühenden Herzens und mit frohem Mut den neuen Tag beginnt.
Bis bald, Roxana, Dir Tage ganz erfüllt...!
Renée
that's just all sorts of lovely!
ReplyDeletePotent. -J
ReplyDeleteBomjour Roxana,
ReplyDeleteComment vas-tu?
Moi je continue avec beaucoup "trop" de travaille et en plus,j'aide une amie à organiser ses concert...
J'adore tes rouges et tes jaune!!!
As-tu réussi à voir les videos des soeurs Wilson e celles de Jesper?
Nu am sărutat.
Marc
A lovely image that reminds me of Lartigue's lushly romantic autochromes.
ReplyDeleteJ'adore!
ReplyDeleteThw words are beautiful!
ReplyDelete... only you.
ReplyDeleteI made a commitment this week to truly care for my numerous rose bushes this summer, something I didn't do last year. This poem, this image will help me to beam love to each and every rose in anticipation of a beauty season in the sun. Thank you (from me and my roses).
ReplyDeletedearest, your photograph astounds me. (you astound me)
ReplyDeleteShe twitched at the vertiginous firmament, the dovelike petals of ecstatic flowers, the hollow burning of her breath, and suddenly, without relief, deliquesced into the protective arms of impossibility.
I look, and I look again. I read, and reread your poetry. I go away and come back again, many times. Your artistry draws me in but leaves me without means to answer. Please accept these ashes of the words I cannot express.
ReplyDeleteBurning, ablaze, burning
ReplyDeleteThe smoke from the roses
That should have been
Has the sweet yet bitter scent
Of all that could have been
But was not meant to be...
And thus I add my ashes of words to those of Lynne expressed here, the fruits of cremation of roses... yet from these ashes, melacholy ashes, may a Phoenix arise, with body blazing...
Ce qui illumine le champ du perçu, c'est, principalement, notre désir.
ReplyDeleteMartine Broda
Roxana...
ReplyDeletej'aime tes flous tes mysteres tes enigmes ces couleurs uniques et enivrantes..comment ne pas se fondre dans ton art dans ta poesie..tu nous subermeges de souvenirs d'emotions de parfums...
ta photo fait corps avec cet apremidi de chaleur qu'il fait ici..ton sur ton...
un peu alchimiste aussi non , :o)
je t'embrasse ..
merci pour ce tourbilon floral..
gorgeous, reminds me of the inscription Hughes put on Plath's tombstone - "Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted". I think Hughes said it was from the Bhagavid-Gita.
ReplyDeleteViolent, voyant, lumineux ou sombre, lourd de symboles : le rouge, jamais neutre, est la couleur ambivalente entre toutes.
ReplyDeleteAn Asie le rouge renvoie à deux éléments – le sang et le feu – considérés tantôt positivement tantôt négativement : rouge feu de la vie, de esprit saint que tu es.
Dianne, the subject of my poem might be the roses, perhaps. or i think, ever better: the burning itself -
ReplyDeleteand i am always glad when you come by :-)
b, 'almost mystical' - i'll wait for the day when you give in to the fact that the Bridge is 'mystical' :-P
K'line, "tourner, vibrer, s'enivrer puis s'évanouir" - tu comprends ca si bien, peut-etre es-tu la soeur cachee de mon ame :-)
je t'embrasse tendrement
but i can't give in roxana (you knew that, didn't u)...and perhaps the mystical is more mystical for it being 'almost'...for not being named. must we always say what we mean?
ReplyDeleteb, not 'always'. but only a wise person understands the important distinctions.
ReplyDeleteso schoen schreibst Du immer, liebste Renée, wenn Deine Worte mein Herz beruehren, fuehle ich immer einen grossen Frieden und reine Freude in mir, Du musst eine ganz besondere, eine so schoene Seele haben...
ReplyDeletesei ganz lieb umarmt!
'all sorts of lovely', that's a lovely way to put it, swiss, i didn't know this expression :-)
thanks, Jayne...
Salut, Marc., "Nu am sărutat" - tu veux dire ca, t'es sur? :-)
j'ai essaye de trouver les videos mais je ne suis pas sure si ce que j'ai trouve sur youtube c'est ce que tu voulais me montrer, est-ce tu pourrais me donner les liens exactes ou je peux voir les films online? s'il te plait...
je t'embrasse de tout coeur.
thank you, Neil! now that i returned to Lartigue, i read a bit about him and discovered that his model and muse was Romanian :-)
ReplyDeletesimona merci beaucoup :-)
oh silent one, Kubla, so happy to hear from you again... i hope everything is ok - though usually your comments started with 'hi Roxana' and they were more like long letters (i loved that)...
Prospero,
ReplyDeletedeliquescence into impossibility, i remember these words the way one remembers a song...
Lynne, what a lovely thing to say, i am so touched... of course, the ashes, so precious...
S., my dear one - i miss you so much...
Lydia, a sunny smile and deep hug for you and your roses, i hope you will show me some pictures of those endless rose bushes you made me dream of?
ReplyDeleteOwen, what a powerful image, isn't it, that of the Phoenix - so many myths condensed, so many symbols. i thank you for bringing it here onto the Bridge...
Salut
ReplyDeleteJane et Louise Wilson
Signature Serenades?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLZ_cA7N7po
Jesper Just, Romantic Delutions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ZucGqhm-s
Je suis désolé, mais je n'ai pas trouver une meilleur copie du Romantic Delutions :0(
PS: "Nu am sărutat" Je t'embrasse non???
Michael, this is indeed a wonderful quote, but quite unexpected from you! :-P
ReplyDelete(i'm only joking, i know it is a gift for me - or for my roses - and that's why you chose it)
ma chere Clo, alchimiste de la purete et de la tendresse, tes paroles sont une veritable poesie qui m'apporte tant de joie... je t'embrasse de tout coeur et a tres bientot!
cher Allan, quel beau et riche commentaire... merci de tout coeur - et oui, je sais que tu es quelqu'un de tres large d'esprit, encore une raison que j'ai pour te respecter et t'aimer bien!
Marion, this is a very beautiful quote, thank you... it seems that it actually belongs to Wu Ch'Eng-En, a 16th century Chinese poet:
"According to Ted Hughes, the quotation comes from the Bhagavid-Gita (the Hindu scriptures). But a couple of years ago I met a man at the grave who said he had gone right through the Bhagavid-Gita and hadn't been able to find it. I have since skimmed through it as well, and I too was unable to find it. It might depend upon translation, etc. If anyone does know more about it, I'd be very interested to know.
Since writing this reply the Forum has been sent the following information from Paul Prescott of Todmorden (UK). This quote comes from the book 'Monkey' written by Wu Ch'Eng-En in the middle of the sixteenth century. It is on page 23 of the penguin classics edition. It is spoken by a Patriarch who is teaching Monkey the way of long life." (on the Sylvia Plath Forum)
Marc., merci, je vais regarder toute de suite!!!
ReplyDeletenon, 'nu te sarut' signifie: "je NE t'embrasse pas" (i don't give you any kiss) :-)))
qui t'a dit ca? ou c'etait la traduction autoamtique?
beautiful words and image-the tension and celebration of -the reach.
ReplyDeleteto see this world through your soul is an intoxicating, breathlessly beautiful experience. the purity of your vision is refreshing as blue snows and morning kisses: you x-ray my being with your photon-paintings and illustrate my fallen words.
ReplyDeleteRoxana, your images haunt my imagination, lingering longer than images normally do. They have both a surreal quality and yet, simultaneously, they come as daggers to the heart, slicing away all that is false and in this way, my own heart swirls in the depths of one who sees as you see.
ReplyDeletesutton, i missed you, i am happy if my pictures and words could still touch you through all this distance and silence...
ReplyDeleteTree, how beautifully you put it, i don't know what i could say in reply...
ReplyDeletethank you, dear friend, i am always so happy when you come to visit!
mon dieu -what a poem!
ReplyDeletebut i can set my roses ablaze for you
(yes, you can)