Niels Skovgaard - En sommerdag i en herregårdspark (A summer day in a manor park)



      The painting offers a tranquil aristocratic garden bathed in warm summer light (probably the morning light). Tall trees frame the composition, filtering sunlight into soft patches across lawns. The atmosphere feels still, almost hushed, emphasizing harmony between the building and nature. Subtle coloured light creates a lyrical mood, capturing a fleeting moment of serenity, leisure, and quiet contemplation within an idyllic manor setting that invites viewers into peaceful, timeless observation.


Biel Vila - Às vezes



Às vezes

até sem pedir,

uma pessoa junta

beijos de fadas.

E nem sabe como guardar

tanta pureza.


(Trad. A.M.)


      Diz-se que as fadas são do sexo masculino e feminino, materiais e espirituais, visíveis e invisiveis. E mudam o formato quando querem. As melhores são as que fazem as duas partes ao mesmo tempo. A beleza está com elas nos contos. 


"Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" sung by Tracy Newman



      "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" is a famous 1950 anti-war folk song written by Ed McCurdy, describing a dream where the world agrees to end war. It became an anthem for peace movements, was famously covered by Pete Seeger, Simon & Garfunkel, and Joan Baez, and was sung at the Berlin Wall's dismantling. Hope Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu listen to it because intending to create peace they are killing innocent people. 


Carmelo Guillén Acosta - Biografia

 


De repente, suponde-me uma árvore.

Não dessas em que fazem ninho os pássaros

ou que vivem cercadas de atenções.

Uma árvore, sim, de que pendem

restos de ternura, folhas secas,

corações perdidos, versos

que a ninguém servem de consolo.

Feita e direita

uma árvore de sobras

a cuja sombra se abrigam as pessoas.

Uma bela árvore inútil

sem outro fruto senão ilusões.

Humana, ali à mão de semear.


(tradução de A. M.)


    Original: 


De pronto, suponedme un árbol.

No de esos en los que anidan pájaros

o viven rodeados de muchas atenciones.

Suponedme un árbol del que penden

desechos de ternura, hojas secas,

corazones echados a perder,

versos que a nadie le sirven de compaña.

Hecho y derecho

un árbol por las sobras conocido

a cuya sombra la gente se cobija.

Un buen árbol inútil,

sin más fruto que dar a ramas llenas ilusiones.

Humano, lo más a mano posible.


Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee - The Daughters of Eve



      The Daughters of Eve (it seems a detail) by Sir Frank Dicksee portrays an inversion of the biblical myth. Instead of Adam, we see a child looking for knowledge and human sins. The doll is on the grass.


Alberto Soares - Criação

 


Esta dura crueza de navio

à deriva, seguindo a tempestade,

aguarda essa palavra que inicia

todo um começo sem saber o fim.


Dum silêncio noturno vem a lume

a força, e um caroço se liberta

de mim, como de um fruto que apodrece

sem saber - por dentro.


    in, Escrito para a noite


      A desilusão com a vida é uma experiência dolorosa, mas frequentemente um processo necessário de alinhamento com a realidade. Surge quando expectativas elevadas não correspondem aos factos, podendo levar ao crescimento pessoal, amadurecimento e recomeço autêntico após o rompimento de ilusões. Enfrentar a verdade liberta. A tela é de Salvador Dali.


The Kitchen Garden - short film (10 mins)



      I truly didn't want this to end. I wanted to learn more about the past that shaped Francis's life, and how he carried Antonia's legacy into the future after meeting Bella. This is the most beautiful thing that I've seen in a very long time. Thank you.


Hugo Salmson (1843-1894), Swedish painter. Title: Fruktplockerskor. (Girls picking Fruit).



      It portrays a serene rural scene with young girls gathering fruit in a sunlit orchard. The figures are arranged naturally, absorbed in their work, conveying quiet harmony between humans and nature. Salmson’s delicate brushwork and muted tones emphasize realism while retaining a poetic quality. The painting reflects 19th-century ideals of simplicity, labour, and pastoral beauty, capturing a tranquil moment of everyday life.


Ingmar Bergman - Autumn Sonata



      Eva: There's no dividing line, no insurmountable wall. I know it can't be described. It's a world of liberated feelings. Do you know what I mean? To me, man is a tremendous creation, an inconceivable thought. In man is everything, from the highest to lowest. Everything exists side by side. Realities, not only the reality we perceive with our dull senses, but a tumult of realities arching above each other inside and outside. It's just fear and priggishness to believe in limits. There are no limits, neither to thoughts nor feelings. It's anxiety that sets limits.


Hart Crane - Carta do mensageiro




As minhas mãos não tocaram água desde que as tuas mãos,-

Não; - nem os meus lábios voltaram a libertar o riso desde o "adeus".

E, com o dia, a distância novamente

Interpõe-se entre nós, muda como uma concha desfeita.


Contudo, - muito se segue, muito perdura... confia apenas nos pássaros:

As asas de uma pomba fecharam-se sobre o meu coração a noite passada

Com uma suavidade urgente; e a pedra azul

Do anel da promessa tem brilhado desde então muito mais.


  Original:


  Carrier Letter


My hands have not touched water since your hands, -

No; - nor my lips freed laughter since 'farewell'.

And with the day, distance again expands

Between us, voiceless as an uncoiled shell.


Yet, - much follows, much endures… Trust birds alone:

A dove's wings clung about my heart last night

With surging gentleness; and the blue stone

Set in the tryst-ring has but worn more bright.


      The poem centres on enduring emotional connection despite physical separation, using restrained imagery to convey intimacy. Absence is felt through sensory deprivation—untouched water, silenced laughter—suggesting grief or longing restrained by will. The speaker measures time and distance in bodily denial, grounding abstract loss in physical experience.

      Water, laughter, and touch serve as markers of shared past moments, now suspended. The uncoiled shell evokes silence and natural metaphor, distancing human emotion from speech. Birds—specifically the dove—introduce a motif of return and continuity, diverging from typical romantic tropes by implying internalized presence rather than external reunion. The blue stone in the tryst-ring gains luster over time, reversing expectations of fading memory.

      In The Complete Poems of Hart Crane, ed. W. W. Norton & CO., 2001


Olav H. Hauge - Serrei a macieira ao pé da janela

 


Serrei a macieira ao pé da janela.

Por um lado, tapava a vista,

a sala de estar ficava pálida no Verão,

por outro lado, os grossistas já

não queriam aquela qualidade de maçã.

Pensei no que diria

meu pai, ele gostava

daquela macieira.

Ainda assim, serrei-a.


Está muito luminoso, posso

ver para lá do fiorde

ou observar

mais vizinhos,

a casa está agora à vista

de todos, mostra

mais de si mesma.


Não quero admiti-lo, mas sinto falta da macieira.

As coisas não são o que eram. Dava um bom abrigo

e boa sombra, o sol espreitava através dos ramos

em direcção à mesa, e à noite eu costumava deitar-me

a ouvir as folhas ao vento. E as maçãs –

de sabor mais apimentado, na Primavera, não há.

Dói sempre que olho o cepo: quando

enfraquecer, irei desfazê-lo em lenha.

 

  Tradução de Henrique Manuel Bento Fialho.


      O poema de Olav H. Hauge, explora a relação entre o ser humano e a natureza, marcada por ambivalência e reflexão. Ao cortar a macieira, o eu lírico elimina algo belo e vivo, sugerindo arrependimento ou consciência tardia. A árvore simboliza crescimento, memória e ligação ao mundo natural. O gesto de a destruir pode representar necessidade prática, mas também perda irreversível. O poema, simples e direto, revela a tensão entre ação e contemplação, destacando a fragilidade das escolhas humanas e o impacto emocional de intervir na natureza.


Dolores Keane - Craigie Hills, 1982

 


It being in the springtime and the small birds they were singing

Down by yon shady harbour I carelessly did stray

The thrushes they were warbling, the violets they were charming

To view fond lovers talking, a while I did delay.

 

She said, "My dear don't leave me all for another season

Though fortune does be pleasing I'll go along with you

I'll forsake friends and relations and bid this Irish Nation

And to the bonny Bann banks forever I'll bid adieu."

 

He said, "My dear don't grieve or yet annoy my patience

You know I love you dearly the more I'm going away

I'm going to a foreign nation to purchase a plantation

To comfort us hereafter all in America.

 

Then after a short while a fortune does be pleasing

Twill cause them for to smile at our late going away

We'll be happy as Queen Victoria, all in her greatest glory

We'll be drinking wine and porter, all in America.

 

If you were in your bed lying and thinking on dying

The sight of the lovely Bann banks your sorrow you'd give o'er

Or if were down one hour, down in yon shady bower

Pleasure would surround you, you'd think on death no more.

 

Then fare you well, sweet Craigie Hill, where often times I've roved

I never thought my childhood days I'd part you any more

Now we're sailing on the ocean for honour and promotion

And the bonny boats are sailing, way down by Doorin shore."


  May the sweet loving Lord adore you Dolores, as we do.


      This song probably dates from the mid-19th century, when, as Paddy Tunneysays, "every Irish port had an emigrant ship". The reference to the Bann's Banks helps to locate the song. Craigie Hill is written largely in the 'conversation' form which was popular in the 19th century. The tribulations of life in Ireland, oppressed by 'the landlords and their agents' are contrasted with the bright prospects in America where one may be 'as happy as Queen Victoria'.


Mary Black, Emmylou Harris and Dolores Keane - Sonny, 1991



Sonny don't go away, I'm here all alone

Your Daddy's a sailor, never comes home,

Nights are so long, silence goes on,

I'm feeling so tired and not all that strong.


Sonny lives on a farm, in a wide-open space

Take off your shoes, stay out of the race

Lay down your head, on a soft riverbed

Sonny always remembers the words Mamma says.


Sonny works on the land, though he's barely a man

There's not much to do but he does what he can

Sits by his window in his room by the stairs

Watching the waves drifting soft on the pier.


Many years have rolled on, Sonny's old and alone

His Daddy the sailor, never came home

Sometimes he wonders what his life might have been

But from the grave Mamma still haunts his dreams.


      Thank you for the joy your music has brought me, Dolores Keane. You got me through some hard times. May your memory be for a blessing.


Gregorio Sciltian - Betsabea, 1953



      Betsabé é uma figura bíblica do Antigo Testamento, conhecida como esposa de Urias e, posteriormente, uma das mulheres do Rei Davi. A sua história é central no relato de adultério e abuso de poder de Davi, resultando na morte de Urias e na posterior gravidez de Betsabé. Mais tarde, ela tornou-se mãe do rei Salomão.


Mia Couto - Flores

 


Ninguém oferece flores.

A flor, em sua fugaz existência,

já é oferenda.


Talvez, alguém, de amor,

se ofereça em flor.


Mas só a semente oferece flores.


Glen Hansard e Javier Mas - Who By Fire



      The song is a modern adaptation of the Unetanneh Tokef, an 11th-century piyyut (liturgical poem) traditionally recited on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The original prayer lists various ways people may pass away (e.g., "who by fire, who by water, who by plague"). Cohen maintained the theme of listing ways to die, while adding his own lyrical variations, such as "who by barbiturate" and "who in her lonely slip". The repeated line "And who shall I say is calling?" introduces a sense of doubt about a higher power, shifting the prayer from divine certainty to a personal question.

A Summer Walk, by Hermann Bethke



      It portrays a tranquil countryside scene, where an elegantly dressed mother and child stroll along a sunlit path. Soft light filters through cereal fields. The composition balances nature and human presence, evoking leisure, refinement, and the gentle rhythm of summer. Subtle colours and careful detailing highlight Bethke’s interest in atmosphere, mood, and everyday beauty in a serene rural landscape. The figures’ gestures suggest quiet conversation and unhurried companionship, enhancing the painting’s calm.


Carlos Sahagún - Inverno e lama



Por muita lenha que ponha agora no fogo,

sei que a adolescência passou

e do fragor das suas mitologias,

diante dos muros inimigos,

ficaram só indícios vagos,

ecos abafados debaixo do céu efémero.

Mas remexendo as cinzas

retorna às vezes um fervor perdido

e alguns focos iluminam o aguaceiro

no subúrbio, no fio da madrugada.

Tu voltas, esfumada imagem de mim mesmo,

tu voltas para me entregar

por fim a ambiguidade, não o conteúdo

tenaz desses anos sem fronteiras,

em que andávamos descalços, insubmissos,

e a vida solidária era verdade,

mesmo com inverno e lama pelos caminhos?


Já que fracassou a realidade de então,

não sucumba o poema,

não triunfe o esquecimento.


  (Trad. A.M.)

      A pintura: 'Mary and Margaret Gainsborough, the Artist's Daughters, Chasing a Butterfly'


Leonard Cohen - Alain Delon & Sonia Petrovna - Famous Blue Raincoat - Indian Summer 1972 Tribute



       The film tells the story of a gifted but restless young man who cannot live up to the high traditions of his family and survives in obscurity, taking casual teaching jobs and living in a loveless partnership with a depressed woman. His aimless existence reaches a crisis point when he falls for one of his students, a beautiful but badly damaged girl.

      Despite receiving positive reviews from critics, the film was a commercial failure. Perfect for a Leonard’s song.


Pieter Bout - Drovers and their herd resting beside a river



      A pastoral moment where travellers pause with their livestock along a calm riverbank. The composition balances human activity and natural scenery, with soft light illuminating figures, animals, and distant hills. Bout’s detailed brushwork captures textures of foliage, water, and clothing, while the relaxed poses convey rest and routine. The scene reflects 17th-century rural life, emphasizing harmony between people, animals, and landscape.


Nan Cohen - Uma menina recém-nascida na Páscoa Judaica

 


Considera um alperce numa cesta cheia deles.

É muito parecido com todos os outros alperces -

um exemplar único, feito de pele e semente.


Agora pensa neste dia. Um que provavelmente esquecerás.

O teu próximo fôlego, um longo trago de ar.

Dia sagrado ou não, não importa.


Uma criança nasceu e não sabe que dia é hoje.

Nem pode imaginar a alegria particular do meu coração.

O sabor dos alperces permanece na loja à sua espera.


  Original:


Nan Cohen - A Newborn Girl at Passover


Consider one apricot in a basket of them.

It is very much like all the other apricots

an individual already, skin and seed.


Now think of this day.  One you will probably forget.

The next breath you take, a long drink of air.

Holiday or not, it doesn't matter.


A child is born and doesn't know what day it is.

The particular joy in my heart she cannot imagine.

The taste of apricots is in store for her.


      O poema articula o nascimento de uma criança com o significado simbólico da Páscoa judaica. A autora cruza o íntimo e o histórico. O poema sugere esperança, mas também responsabilidade, ao projetar no futuro da criança a herança coletiva.


Cassiano Ricardo - As andorinhas de António Nobre

 


Nos fios tensos da pauta de metal

as andorinhas gritam

por falta de uma clave de sol.


   A beleza das palavras em tempo de ditadura. A poesia de Cassiano e a voz de Ney Matogrosso nos Secos e Molhados. As barras de uma cela, com o sol e as andorinhas como símbolos de liberdade.   

 

La Vida Breve (M. De Falla) - Carmesí Guitar Duo



      La vida breve is a two-act, four-scene opera that Manuel de Falla composed between August 1904 and March 1905 in Spain. The libretto, written by Carlos Fernández-Shaw, is set in Granada and uses the local language, Andalusian Spanish. Unable to secure its premiere in Spain, Falla continued revising the score after moving to France.

Act 1

Afternoon and sunset in the (gypsy) Albaicín district.

A male chorus of anvil workers plies their trade at the local forge. The young gypsy, Salud, is passionately in love with a young well-to-do man named Paco. She does not know, and Paco does not tell her, that he is already engaged to a woman of his social class. Her uncle, Sarvaor (Salvador), and her grandmother (La abuela) have discovered this, and they try to prevent Salud from interrupting Paco's wedding after she learns the truth.

Act 2

A wealthier part of the city: in front of a house on whose patio wedding festivities are in progress (and visible from the street), and then in the patio itself.

Confrontation (which from several perspectives is the theme of the whole opera) occurs after Salud and Sarvaor gate-crash the festivities, astonishing the bride and the guests and momentarily throwing the mendacious groom so much off his guard that he utters Salud's name before denying he knows her and ordering her ejection. Her heart broken, Salud falls dead at his feet, in what is said to be the ultimate gesture of contempt for a former lover.

     from Wiki

Gerhard Munthe (Norwegian, 1849–1929) - The Idyll, 1886



Trees, paths and open space frame the human presence and a dog, emphasizing balance between people and nature. The work captures a quiet moment of pastoral happiness, celebrating simplicity, harmony, and the poetic beauty of Norway’s natural environment. Are they waiting for someone?


Casimiro de Brito - A paz



Se eu te pedisse a paz, o que me darias

pequeno insecto da memória de quem sou

ninho e alimento? Se eu te pedisse a paz,

a pedra do silêncio cobrindo-me de pó,

a voz limpa dos frutos, o que me darias

respiração pausada de outro corpo

sob o meu corpo?

Perdoa-me ser tão só, e falar-te ainda

do meu exílio. Perdoa-me se não te peço

a paz. Apenas pergunto: o que me darias

em troca se ta pedisse? O sol? A sabedoria?

Um cavalo de olhos verdes? Um campo de batalha

para nele gravar o teu nome junto ao meu?

Ou apenas uma faca de fogo, intranquila,

no centro do coração?

Nada te peço, nada. Visito, simplesmente,

o teu corpo de cinza. Falo de mim,

entrego-te o meu destino. E a morte vivo

só de perguntar-te: o que me darias

se te pedisse a paz

e soubesses de como a quero construída

com as matérias vivas da liberdade?

 

in, Jardins de Guerra, 1966


      O poema, com muitas perguntas, descreve a paz como um estado interior simples e profundo. O eu poético sugere que a paz não depende de grandes acontecimentos, mas de uma atitude de aceitação, silêncio e harmonia com o mundo. O poema valoriza a tranquilidade, o desapego e a contemplação do presente.

    Pintura de Margaret Biggs, A Path to Inner Peace


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