Luminous Decay
justinehrlich

Justin Ehrlich was born in Essex in 1985 and has a degree in Philosophy. He writes poetry and short fiction dealing with themes of death, insanity and the supernatural.

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2012 (29)
2011 (88)

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10 Jul 2011
July 10th, 4:08am 0 comments

Vladimir Solovyov 1853 - 1900

Below the Sultry Storm

 

BELOW the sultry storm that seemed to lower,
An alien force, again I heard the call
Of my mysterious mate: the prisoned power
Of old dreams flared and flickered in its fall.
 
And with a cry of horror and of dolor—         
As of an eagle in an iron vise—
My spirit shook its cage in quivering choler,
And tore the net, and issued to the skies.
 
And up behind the clouds, unswerving, bearing,—
Before the miracles—a flaming sea—         
Within the shining sanctum briefly flaring,

It vanished into white infinity.

Translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky

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John Martin 1789-1854 -  - Great Day of His Wrath

 
 
Filed under Avrahm Yarmolinsky Babette Deutsch Below the Sultry Storm Great Day of His Wrath John Martin Poetry Translation Vladimir Solovyov

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7 Jul 2011
July 7th, 2:17pm 0 comments

Fyodor Sologub 1863 - 1927

 

 

 

 

When, Heaving on the Stormy Waters

 

When, heaving on the stormy waters,
I felt my ship beneath to sink,
I prayed, "Oh, Father Satan, save me,
Forgive me at death's utter brink!

"If you will save my soul embittered 
From perishing before its hour,
The days to come, the nights that follow
I vow to vice, I pledge to power."

The Devil forthwith snatched and flung me 
Into a boat; the sides were frail,
But on the bench the oars were lying
And in the bow an old gray sail.

And landward once again I carried
My outcast soul, bereft of kin,
Upon its sick and vicious sojourn
My body and its gift of sin.

And I am faithful, Father Satan,
Unto my evil hour's vow,
When from my drowning ship you saved me
And when I prayed you guide the prow.

To you descend my praises, Father,
No day from bitter blame exempt.
O'er worlds my blasphemy shall tower;
And I shall tempt -- and I shall tempt. 

Translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky

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Gustave Dore 1832 - 1883 - Illustration from Paradise Lost
Filed under Avrahm Yarmolinsky Babette Deutsch Fyodor Sologub Gustave Dore Heaving on the Stormy Waters Poetry Translation When

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6 Jul 2011
July 6th, 9:02am 0 comments

Vyacheslav Ivanov 1866 - 1949

Nomads of Beauty
 
         “You are artists, Nomads of Beauty.”
 
—“Flamings.”

FOR you—ancestral acres,
And, choked, the graveyard waits.
For us, the free forsakers,—
The camp that Beauty fates.
 
For us—the daily treason,         
The tents we daily flee,
Mocked by each dawning season
Of our captivity.
 
Believe the dimmer distance,
All curtains: magic veils,         
All Springtides’ green persistence,
Whole heaven’s vasty gales!
 
Oh, vagrant artists, shepherd
Your droves of dreams unbound;
And sow, although you jeopard         
The soon-abandoned ground.
 
And from your open spaces
Rush down, a whirling horde,
Where slaves tamed to the traces
Adore their overlord.      
 
Trample their Edens, plow them,
Oh, Attila, with scars.
And grow—to Beauty vow them—

Your steppe flowers like stars.

 

Translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky

 

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Raymond Delamarre 1890 - 1986 - Attila the Hun on his Horse

 
Filed under Attila the Hun on his Horse Avrahm Yarmolinsky Babette Deutsch Nomads of Beauty Poetry Raymond Delamarre Translation Vyacheslav Ivanov

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5 Jul 2011
July 5th, 4:58am 0 comments

Alexander Blok 1880 - 1921

Into Crimson Dark

 

Into crimson dark thou goest,

Thy vast orbits mock the eye.

Small the echo that thou throwest,

Far, I hear thy footfalls die.

 

Art thou near? - too far for greeting?

Lost in topless altitudes?

Shall I wait a sudden meeting

Where sonorous stillness broods?

 

In the solitude resounding

Distant footsteps echo free.

Is it thou who flamest, bounding

Circles of infinity?

Translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky

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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1880 - 1928 - Mountains in Winter

Filed under Alexander Blok Art Avrahm Yarmolinsky Babette Deutsch Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Into Crimson Dark Mountains in Winter Poetry Translation

Posted