9/11

 Sent with line up Jim will moderate:

On this Armistice Day, I send you greetings from Slovenia, where we see more reminders of the disastrous effect of war and violence, whether monuments, or a crucifix deep in the mountains near where a partisan hospital was located.  I was struck by this poem by Danez Smith -- it's long, but filled with important lines.

A thank you to all for keeping O Pen a lively place for compassionate, respectful discussion!  Thank you Jim for moderating this week's poems!

and...

Greetings from Bled, (in Slovenia)-- yesterday it was raining cats and dogs (we say in French, "il pleut à verses" -- and I joke, "qu'il pleuve des poèmes!" (let it rain poems!)-

an excuse to rewrite the  19th century Slovenian poem extolling  the lake of Bled with its island and magical church,  legend of the wish-granting bell inspired by the usual picturebook image...

 

Here's a photo of the castle last night -- the rain stopped and no, the castle is not on fire -- just illuminated!!!    

 

The Lake  by Oton Župančič[1]

 

All day's hours that rush across the sky 

Are reflected in this water's eye, 

It's where every sunrise dips its tail, 

It's where every star inscribes its trail.

 

Whatever's true one in the lake can see:

The mountain, island, church spire, and the tree, 

Clouds and birds, the fugitives of height, 

Find in its depths a mirrored sight.

 

And the lake plays with the flash of light, 

Shifting glints and shadows; to one's sight 

An everlasting wonder; gazing there,

The magic of its dreams with it we share .. 

Responding to Oton Zupancic, The Lake[2]

 

You can barely see the church spire on the island, 

bathed as it is in blankets of silvery mist

and much as the lake would mirror a strand

of light from daybreak or starlit, or wish

 

for the bell legend to be true, the only bird

is a family of ducks, paddling in a line to shore.

The rain puddles on cobblestones; what word

would you chose for what you fear is in store?

 

Oh, I'm not talking about fairy tale castles,

church spires, not even a Slavic goddess,[3]  

when will people learn words are but tassles

and as propaganda, become unbreathable bodice? 

---

[1] Oton Župančič (1878–1949) was a dramatist, essayist and translator, yet his main vocation, as reflected by his personality traits and body of work, was that of a poet-- and painter... https://mgml.si/en/city-museum/exhibitions/623/oton-zupancic-drawings/

[2] written in 1912 

[3] myth has it Slovenes would search for the temple of Slavic goddess Živa and the shadow of her priestess, the beautiful Bogomila hiding in the harmonious contours of the island church!