December, 2018
The scent of the old year
POSTED IN contemporary poetry December 31, 2018
The scent of the old yearThe old year, which is about to start the countdown, living its last hours, is just one piece of the puzzle we, humans, call it Time.In order to be happy, to accomplish the puzzle piece by piece, we need to kiss the old year goodbye, without labelling it: it was bad, it was good, it was hard but satisfactory, I can’t wait to enter the New Year….
Thank the old year for everything it brought upon us and look forward for the next 365 days, think how to live them to the fullest.
I felt the same after I graduated the High School: “I cannot wait for my life to start”, being blissfully unaware that I was already living it.
And, the older I get, the faster the years fly by. After I graduated University I found myself thinking: “I wish that I will never get old, that I will work forever”, that happy I was as a fresh High School teacher.
As the years speed by, New Year’s welcoming becomes more important as I begin to wonder just how many new years I have left. I remember a line from “Fight club”: “This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”So, my darling old year, you’ve been kind to me! Thank you for every morning I woke up and I saw the Light, for every season I’ve been blessed to breathe once more, for every Tree, every flower which once more was a wonder, although every year of my life was filled with wonders, for my old friends which are well and happy, for the new friends I’ve made who taught me to be wise and humble, to love poetry, the scent of new books, for my parents, which are still on this Earth, for my family and the every day we enjoy together, for every tear, or fear, or joy which made me grow, for every wisdom I’ve got from others, for every prayer I said for humanity, for the poor, for the ill, for the one in need…
Thank you for every second!The scent of you is happiness, gratitude, kindness, tolerance, understanding, love for Beauty, for Art, respect for ancient values and acceptance for the ignorance, desire to help the helpless, power to be strong when the weak needs me…
The New Year will be new. A clean slate. A blank canvas. Endless possibility. Isn’t that an exquisite thing to wait for?
I simply wish that will define the smallest fraction of me, make me a better human!HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019!
Poi che per mia ventura / Then for my fortune
POSTED IN classic poetry, translated Italian-English December 28, 2018
Poi che per mia ventura / Then for my fortunePoi che per mia ventura a veder torno
voi dolci colli, e voi, chiare e fresch’acque,
e tu, che tanto alla natura piacque
farti, sito gentil, vago ed adorno,
ben posso dire avventuroso il giorno,
e lodar sempre quel desio che nacque
in me di rivedervi, che pria giacque
morto nel cor di dolor cinto intorno.
Vi veggi’ or dunque, e tal dolcezza sento,
che quante mai dalla fortuna offese
ricevute ho finor, pongo in oblio.
Così sempre vi sia largo e cortese,
lochi beati, il ciel, come in me spento
è, se non di voi soli, ogni desio.VERONICA GAMBARA
……………………………………………………………………..
Then for my fortuneThen for my fortune to see I return,
you, sweet hills, and you, waters so fresh and clear
and you, who always held the nature so dear
I make you a place, gentle, vague, to adorn.Well, I can say adventurous the morn,
and always praise the desire that’s born
in me, again to see you, which first lay
dead in the heart surrounded by mourn.So we saw each other, and such sweetness I felt,
that more than ever by my offended fate
I’ve got punished, I place myself in oblivion.
So always there are wide and great,
blessed places, the sky, like those in me melt
there is, every desire, if not you alone.English version, Maria Magdalena
Jouluruahaa!
POSTED IN contemporary poetry December 24, 2018
Joulurauhaa!
From Finland, Turku, to the whole world A MERRY PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS!
Vintage Print
Joulupuu on rakennettu
POSTED IN Music December 24, 2018
Joulupuu on rakennettu1. Joulupuu on rakennettu:
joulu on jo ovella;
namusia ripustettu
ompi kuusen oksilla.2. Kuusen pienet kynttiläiset
valaisevat kauniisti;
ympärillä lapsukaiset
laulelevat sulosti.3. Kiitos sulle Jeesuksemme
kallis Vapahtajamme,
kun sä tulit vieraaksemme,
paras joululahjamme.4. Tullessasi toit sä valon,
lahjat runsaat, rikkahat;
autuuden ja anteeksannon
kaikki taivaan tavarat.5. Anna, Jeesus, henkes hyvän
meidän sydämihimme
viritellä uskon valon!
Siunaa, Jeesus, joulumme!
Vintage Print
The Snowman
POSTED IN contemporary poetry December 23, 2018
The SnowmanThe winter holiday started that year on December 17th and it would have lasted up to January the seventh next year, so a big “school free, not waking up at 7.00, in the darkness, not walking through the snow” bouquet of days was lying ahead.
The holiday with Dad!
It snowed pretty well that December and it kept snowing so that the day before Christmas Eve it seemed a must to build a Snowman!
So, out we went, equipped with gloves and desire to build the biggest Snowman ever! It took three hours to gather the snow, to roll the huge balls, to put them one on top of the other and finally to make the Snowman see, give him a nose and a large smile and a purple cap (my cap!).
Tired and wet the three of us stood watching the new friend, none of us willing to go inside for lunch. Some other neighbour kids played outside watching enviously our Snowman, somehow wanting to join the labour yet yelling, fighting with snow, being restless.
No, the boy would not trust them with such a delicate task: to make a friend!
At length we decided that it is time to eat something and went inside to dry ourselves first. Our balcony window offered the perfect view straight to our new friend place so the eight years old boy had a peek every so often to check on him, the Snowman.
Slowly the darkness covered the trees and only the snow was shining. I was writing something and every once in a while I watched my boy: he was nervously standing near the window, fighting tears.
I didn’t ask yet I went next to him as if something important had to be told and then I saw it all: three toddlers with their Granny were touching our Snowman, talking, laughing…
The boy, tears running over his sweet face, silent as a rock, tried hard not to scream at them : “Go away, don’t hurt him, he is my friend!!”…but I did…I went out, to the balcony and asked politely the old lady to not allow the kids destroy the Snowman…Colour me amazed when one little girl took some snow and caressed the Snowman exactly when the Granny explained: “Oh, no dear, they are simply loving him and wanted to kiss him!”…
I thanked her, I stood still at least fifteen minutes more while my boy joined me on the balcony, supervising somehow that everything is alright. The tears dried away and a serious yet a tad smiley face radiated in the darkened evening.
– It’s all good, I caressed the blond head and the kind heart of an eight years old, they are just happy kids!That night he slept well, carefree, knowing that his snowy friend is loved by everybody and protected by me
To be eight years old, to have all the toys you want yet to cry for a Snowman, well, this is the Spirit of Christmas.Now he is sixteen, yet the little boy inside remembers his friend who, one December day told him the secret only children know about Christmas.
Vintage Print
Christmas 2018
POSTED IN Winter 2018 December 20, 2018
Christmas 2018
Vintage Print
Copilule cu ochi senini
POSTED IN Music December 18, 2018
Copilule cu ochi seniniCopilule cu ochi senini
Tu vii din nou printre străini
În peşteră pe paie reci
Tu iarăşi capul ţi-l apleciDar astăzi magii nu mai vin
Şi nici păstori să-ţi cânte lin
Copilule cu ochi senini
Tu iarăşi vii printre străiniCopil, copil, copil sărman
Tu vii în fiecare an
Cu bine răul să-l plăteşti
Să rabzi să ierţi şi să iubeştiCopil, copil sărman copil
Tu vii în fiecare an
De atâta vreme tu petreci
La uşa inimilor reciBătând mereu aprins de dor
La uşi închise cu zăvor
Dar nimeni nu ţi-a mai deschis
Copilule cu ochi senini.Merry Christmas
Last Christmas
POSTED IN Music December 15, 2018
Last ChristmasLast Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance
But you still catch my eye
Tell me, baby
Do you recognize me?
Well, it’s been a year
It doesn’t surprise me
(Merry Christmas!) I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying, “I love you, ” I meant it
Now, I know what a fool I’ve been
But if you kissed me now
I know you’d fool me again
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
A crowded room, friends with tired eyes
I’m hiding from you, and your soul of ice
My god, I thought you were someone to rely on
Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man under cover but you tore me apart
Now, I’ve found a real love you’ll never fool me again
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man under cover but you tore him apart
Maybe next year I’ll give it to someone
I’ll give it to someone special.Wham
Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää!
POSTED IN classic poetry December 6, 2018
Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää!Jos on suurta tehty missä,
sit’ on tehty sydämissä,
kautta tarmon, kautta kunnon,
hyvän kautta omantunnon;
siell’ on Suomen juuret meillä,
jotka kestää elon teillä,
kestää, vaikk’ on vaara vakaa,
kuuluu vuosisatain takaa.Terve teille, Suomen suuret,
joill’ on synnyinmaassa juuret,
syvät niinkuin Suomen puilla,
syvemmät kuin meillä muilla;
kuka enin kärsi, vasta
häll’ on tieto maailmasta,
tunto isänmaankin oman,
armahan ja onnettoman.Vapaus, sana meille soipa,
Väinön virsi kaikkivoipa,
kauas kuulu, kauas kaiu,
Suomen rantamilla raiu!
Vapaus, teille vankilasta,
muille kerran koituu vasta,
mutta elää vapaa henki
halki Suomen surujenki.Eino Leino
Elderly woman
POSTED IN Music December 5, 2018
Elderly woman
I seem to recognize your face
Haunting, familiar yet
I can’t seem to place it
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
Lifetimes are catching up with me
All these changes taking place
I wish I’d seen the place
But no one’s ever taken me
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away
I swear, I recognize your breath
Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising
Me, you wouldn’t recall for I’m not my former
It’s hard when you’re stuck upon the shelf
I changed by not changing at all
Small town predicts my fate
Perhaps that’s what no one wants to see
I just want to scream hello
My God it’s been so long
Never dreamed you’d return
But now here you are and here I am
Hearts and thoughts they fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away
Hearts and thoughts they fade.Pearl Jam
