Fleurs du Mal Magazine
Or see the index
To Winter
Stay, season of calm love and soulful snows!
There is a subtle sweetness in the sun,
The ripples on the stream’s breast gaily run,
The wind more boisterously by me blows,
And each succeeding day now longer grows.
The birds a gladder music have begun,
The squirrel, full of mischief and of fun,
From maples’ topmost branch the brown twig throws.
I read these pregnant signs, know what they mean:
I know that thou art making ready to go.
Oh stay! I fled a land where fields are green
Always, and palms wave gently to and fro,
And winds are balmy, blue brooks ever sheen,
To ease my heart of its impassioned woe.
Claude McKay
(1889 – 1948)
To Winter
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: #Modern Poetry Archive, 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive M-N, Archive M-N, Claude McKay
Les quatre saisons – L’hiver
C’est l’hiver. Le charbon de terre
Flambe en ma chambre solitaire.
La neige tombe sur les toits.
Blanche ! Oh, ses beaux seins blancs et froids!
Même sillage aux cheminées
Qu’en ses tresses disséminées.
Au bal, chacun jette, poli,
Les mots féroces de l’oubli,
L’eau qui chantait s’est prise en glace,
Amour, quel ennui te remplace!
Charles Cros
(1842 – 1888)
Les quatre saisons – L’hiver
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive C-D, Archive C-D, Cros, Charles
Winter: My Secret
I tell my secret? No indeed, not I:
Perhaps some day, who knows?
But not to-day; it froze, and blows, and snows,
And you’re too curious: fie!
You want to hear it? well:
Only, my secret’s mine, and I won’t tell.
Or, after all, perhaps there’s none:
Suppose there is no secret after all,
But only just my fun.
To-day’s a nipping day, a biting day;
In which one wants a shawl,
A veil, a cloak, and other wraps:
I cannot ope to every one who taps,
And let the draughts come whistling through my hall;
Come bounding and surrounding me,
Come buffeting, astounding me,
Nipping and clipping through my wraps and all.
I wear my mask for warmth: who ever shows
His nose to Russian snows
To be pecked at by every wind that blows?
You would not peck? I thank you for good-will,
Believe, but leave that truth untested still.
Spring’s an expansive time: yet I don’t trust
March with its peck of dust,
Nor April with its rainbow-crowned brief showers,
Nor even May, whose flowers
One frost may wither through the sunless hours.
Perhaps some languid summer day,
When drowsy birds sing less and less,
And golden fruit is ripening to excess,
If there’s not too much sun nor too much cloud,
And the warm wind is neither still nor loud,
Perhaps my secret I may say,
Or you may guess.
Christina Georgina Rossetti
(1830 – 1894)
Winter: My Secret
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive Q-R, Archive Q-R, Rossetti, Christina
gekantelde horizon
akkers
ver na tijd van oogst
vol zware, zwarte klei
liggen
volledig opengereten
van onder naar boven
tot aan horizon doorkliefd
ruw ontbloot, groots
in winterkaal
aan elementen
overgeleverd landschap
waar nu zelfs vogels
hard
en grimmig ogen, ons beloeren
solitaire bomen
grommen tegen harde wind
boeren, koeien
uit het beeld zijn weggekropen
dapper, onverstoorbaar
rijdt ons treintje
verder langs de open wond
immuun voor taferelen buiten
hangen bijna alle hoofden
richting lichtend, lokkend
landschap beneden,
smartphones
freda kamphuis
gekantelde horizon
wintergedicht
https://fredaxblog.blogspot.com
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive K-L, Archive K-L, Freda Kamphuis, Kamphuis, Freda
Il fait froid
L’hiver blanchit le dur chemin
Tes jours aux méchants sont en proie.
La bise mord ta douce main ;
La haine souffle sur ta joie.
La neige emplit le noir sillon.
La lumière est diminuée…
Ferme ta porte à l’aquilon !
Ferme ta vitre à la nuée !
Et puis laisse ton coeur ouvert !
Le coeur, c’est la sainte fenêtre.
Le soleil de brume est couvert ;
Mais Dieu va rayonner peut-être !
Doute du bonheur, fruit mortel ;
Doute de l’homme plein d’envie ;
Doute du prêtre et de l’autel ;
Mais crois à l’amour, ô ma vie !
Crois à l’amour, toujours entier,
Toujours brillant sous tous les voiles !
A l’amour, tison du foyer !
A l’amour, rayon des étoiles !
Aime, et ne désespère pas.
Dans ton âme, où parfois je passe,
Où mes vers chuchotent tout bas,
Laisse chaque chose à sa place.
La fidélité sans ennui,
La paix des vertus élevées,
Et l’indulgence pour autrui,
Eponge des fautes lavées.
Dans ta pensée où tout est beau,
Que rien ne tombe ou ne recule.
Fais de ton amour ton flambeau.
On s’éclaire de ce qui brûle.
A ces démons d’inimitié
Oppose ta douceur sereine,
Et reverse leur en pitié
Tout ce qu’ils t’ont vomi de haine.
La haine, c’est l’hiver du coeur.
Plains-les ! mais garde ton courage.
Garde ton sourire vainqueur ;
Bel arc-en-ciel, sors de l’orage !
Garde ton amour éternel.
L’hiver, l’astre éteint-il sa flamme ?
Dieu ne retire rien du ciel ;
Ne retire rien de ton âme !
Victor Hugo
(1802 – 1885)
Il fait froid
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive G-H, Archive G-H, Hugo, Victor, Victor Hugo
Winter-Lull
Because of the silent snow, we are all hushed
Into awe.
No sound of guns, nor overhead no rushed
Vibration to draw
Our attention out of the void wherein we are crushed.
A crow floats past on level wings
Noiselessly.
Uninterrupted silence swings
Invisibly, inaudibly
To and fro in our misgivings.
We do not look at each other, we hide
Our daunted eyes.
White earth, and ruins, ourselves, and nothing beside.
It all belies
Our existence; we wait, and are still denied.
We are folded together, men and the snowy ground
Into nullity.
There is silence, only the silence, never a sound
Nor a verity
To assist us; disastrously silence-bound!
D. H. Lawrence
(1885 –1930)
Winter-Lull
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive K-L, Archive K-L, Lawrence, D.H.
Auf einem Berg aus Zuckerkant
Auf einem Berg aus Zuckerkant,
unter einem blühenden Machandelbaum,
blinkt mein Pfefferkuchenhäuschen.
Seine Fensterchen sind aus Goldpapier,
aus seinem Schornstein raucht Watte.
Im grünen Himmel, über mir,
rauscht die Weihnachtstanne.
In meinem See aus Staniol
spiegeln sich alle ihre Engel, alle ihre Lichter!
Die kleinen Kinder stehn rum
und staunen mich an.
Ich bin der Zwerg Turlitipu.
Mein dicker Bauch ist aus Traganth,
meine Beinchen Streichhölzer,
meine listigen Äugelchen
Korinthen.
Arno Holz
(1863 – 1929)
Auf einem Berg aus Zuckerkant
(aus: “Phantasus”)
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: #Experimental Poetry Archive, 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive G-H, Archive G-H, Expressionism, Grimm, Andersen e.o.: Fables, Fairy Tales & Stories
To Winter
O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors:
The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark
Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs
Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.
He hears me not, but o’er the yawning deep
Rides heavy; his storms are unchain’d, sheathed
In ribbed steel; I dare not lift mine eyes;
For he hath rear’d his scepter o’er the world.
Lo! now the direful monster, whose skin clings
To his strong bones, strides o’er the groaning rocks:
He withers all in silence, and in his hand
Unclothes the earth, and freezes up frail life.
He takes his seat upon the cliffs, the mariner
Cries in vain. Poor little wretch! that deal’st
With storms; till heaven smiles, and the monster
Is driven yelling to his caves beneath Mount Hecla.
William Blake
(1757 – 1827)
To Winter
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive A-B, Archive A-B, Blake, William, CLASSIC POETRY
L’hiver
C’est l’hiver sans parfum ni chants.
Dans le pré, les brins de verdure
Percent de leurs jets fléchissants
La neige étincelante et dure.
Quelques buissons gardent encor
Des feuilles jaunes et cassantes
Que le vent âpre et rude mord
Comme font les chèvres grimpantes.
Et les arbres silencieux
Que toute cette neige isole
Ont cessé de se faire entre eux
Leurs confidences bénévoles.
– Bois feuillus qui, pendant l’été,
Au chaud des feuilles cotonneuses
Avez connu les voluptés
Et les cris des huppes chanteuses,
Vous qui, dans la douce saison,
Respiriez la senteur des gommes,
Vous frissonnez à l’horizon
Avec des gestes qu’ont les hommes.
Vous êtes las, vous êtes nus,
Plus rien dans l’air ne vous protège,
Et vos coeurs tendres ou chenus
Se désespèrent sur la neige.
– Et près de vous, frère orgueilleux,
Le sapin où le soleil brille
Balance les fruits écailleux
Qui luisent entre ses aiguilles.
Anna de Noailles
(1876 – 1933)
L’hiver
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive M-N, Archive M-N, Noailles, Anna de
En hiver
Le sol trempé se gerce aux froidures premières,
La neige blanche essaime au loin ses duvets blancs,
Et met, au bord des toits et des chaumes branlants,
Des coussinets de laine irisés de lumières.
Passent dans les champs nus les plaintes coutumières,
A travers le désert des silences dolents,
Où de grands corbeaux lourds abattent leurs vols lents
Et s’en viennent de faim rôder près des chaumières.
Mais depuis que le ciel de gris s’était couvert,
Dans la ferme riait une gaieté d’hiver,
On s’assemblait en rond autour du foyer rouge,
Et l’amour s’éveillait, le soir, de gars à gouge,
Au bouillonnement gras et siffleur, du brassin
Qui grouillait, comme un ventre, en son chaudron d’airain.
Emile Verhaeren
(1855 – 1916)
En hiver
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive U-V, Archive U-V, Verhaeren, Emile
To a Wreath of Snow
O transient voyager of heaven!
O silent sign of winter skies!
What adverse wind thy sail has driven
To dungeons where a prisoner lies?
Methinks the hands that shut the sun
So sternly from this morning’s brow
Might still their rebel task have done
And checked a thing so frail as thou.
They would have done it had they known
The talisman that dwelt in thee,
For all the suns that ever shone
Have never been so kind to me!
For many a week, and many a day
My heart was weighed with sinking gloom
When morning rose in mourning grey
And faintly lit my prison room
But angel like, when I awoke,
Thy silvery form so soft and fair
Shining through darkness, sweetly spoke
Of cloudy skies and mountains bare;
The dearest to a mountaineer
Who, all life long has loved the snow
That crowned her native summits drear,
Better, than greenest plains below.
And voiceless, soulless, messenger
Thy presence waked a thrilling tone
That comforts me while thou art here
And will sustain when thou art gone
Emily Brontë
(1818 – 1848)
To a Wreath of Snow
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: # Classic Poetry Archive, 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive A-B, Archive C-D, Brontë, Anne, Emily & Charlotte
Winter – A Dirge
The wintry west extends his blast,
And hail and rain does blaw;
Or, the stormy north sends driving forth
The blinding sleet and snaw:
While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
And roars frae bank to brae;
And bird and beast in covert rest,
And pass the heartless day.
“The sweeping blast, the sky o’ercast,”
The joyless winter-day
Let others fear, to me more dear
Than all the pride of May:
The tempest’s howl, it soothes my soul,
My griefs it seems to join;
The leafless trees my fancy please,
Their fate resembles mine!
Thou Power Supreme whose mighty scheme
These woes of mine fulfil,
Here, firm, I rest; they must be best,
Because they are Thy will!
Then all I want—O do Thou grant
This one request of mine.—
Since to enjoy Thou dost deny,
Assist me to resign.
Robert Burns
(1759 – 1796)
Winter – A Dirge
• fleursdumal.nl magazine
More in: # Classic Poetry Archive, 4SEASONS#Winter, Archive A-B, Archive A-B, Burns, Robert
Thank you for reading Fleurs du Mal - magazine for art & literature