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De Amerikaanse dichteres en schrijfster Ella Wheeler Wilcox werd geboren op 5 november 1850 in Johnstown, Wisconsin. Zie ook alle tags voor Ella Wheeler Wilcox op dit blog en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2009 en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2010.
A Baby In The House
I knew that a baby was hid in that house,
Though I saw no cradle and heard no cry;
But the husband was tip-toeing 'round like a mouse,
And the good wife was humming a soft lullaby;
And there was a look on the face of the mother,
That I knew could mean only one thing, and no other.
The mother, I said to myself, for I knew
That the woman before me was certainly that;
And there lay in a corner a tiny cloth shoe,
And I saw on a stand such a wee little hat;
And the beard of the husband said, plain as could be,
'Two fat chubby hands have been tugging at me.'
And he took from his pocket a gay picture-book,
And a dog that could bark, if you pulled on a string;
And the wife laid them up with such a pleased look;
And I said to myself, 'There is no other thing
But a babe that could bring about all this, and so
That one thing is in hiding somewhere, I know.'
I stayed but a moment, and saw nothing more,
And heard not a sound, yet I know I was right;
What else could the shoe mean that lay on the floor,
The book and the toy, and the faces so bright;
And what made the husband as still as a mouse?
I am sure, very sure, there's a babe in that house.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (5 november 1850 – 30 oktober 1919)
De Duitse dichter en schrijver Hans Sachs werd op 5 november 1494 in Nürnberg geboren als zoon van een kleermaker. Zie ook mijn blog van 5 november 2010 en eveneens alle tags voor Hans Sachs op dit blog.
Die bitter lieb
1.
Eins morgens ging ich ausspaziren,
um einen grünen walt refiren,
da hört ich ein heimlich gesprech;
in einem busche in der nech
tet ich durch das gestreus mein schauen:
da saß ein gsell bei einer frauen.
Ich lost zu irem freuntling sagen,
da war es nichts, wan bitter klagen.
das freulein senlich in ansach
und seufzent zu dem jüngling sprach:
»herzlieb, wie sich ich dich so selten?
sag mir doch, was muß ich entgelten?«
Der jüngling fing widerum an:
»vil geng ich dir zu lieb hab tan
und dich doch nit ersehen kunde;
des weinet ich von herzen grunde,
dacht, dein huld ich verloren hab,
all freuntschaft die wer tod und ab.
die eifersucht brach mir das herz,
die sensucht bracht mir heimlich schmerz.
Hans Sachs (5 november 1494 -19 janauari 1576)
Hans Sachs Haus in Neurenberg. Aquarel door A. Bauer
De Duitse schrijfster, uitgeefster en actrice Ulla Berkéwicz werd geboren op 5 november 1948 in Gießen als Ursula Schmidt. Zie ook alle tags voor Ulla Berkéwicz en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2009 en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2010.
Uit: Überlebnis
„…während die Swatch zu schlagen anfängt während sie aus der Tür schlägt, was nicht ins Haus gehört während die letzten sich geschlagen geben, der Wind auf Sturm steht, die Sturmgardinen wehn, die Polenmädchen vor dem Bettrand knien während die Hand tickt und es stürmt im Haus, die Swatch wehtut, die Polenmädchenzöpfe stürmen während ich weiß, nur weil er nicht mehr ist, kann es ihm ähnlich sehn, und ihm das Laken übern Kopf hochziehe, so daß die schönen großen Füße, die Füße, deren Nägel ich geschnitten habe, die Nägel, die jetzt weiterwachsen, ohne daß ich sie weiterschneiden kann, die weiterwachsen wie der Bart, obwohl wir endlich einen Türken haben, der gut balbiert während die schönen großen Füße da sind, fängt alles an, ohne ihn zu sein. 1 Die Angst, die ich immer noch habe, ist die, zu vergessen. Vergessen ist Verlieren, ist Verlorensein. Wir wissen nicht, was das Leben ist, noch was der Tod, wissen nicht, was wir selbst sind oder bleiben, sind außerstande, unsere Verwandlung in ein gottverlassenes Ding, in einen baren Stoff, in einen Leichenstein zu fassen, zu ergründen, schauen uns als Spieler im Spiegel, eh wir Maske machen und begreifen: Ich bin, der Ich bin, und der ist nicht von dieser Welt, denn die genügt mir nicht, mich dem, der Ich ist, zu erklären. Doch sitzt die Maske, wird der Spiegel zugehängt, und unser Zeitraum bläht sich, nimmt uns ein, bis wir vergessen, daß wir wußten, und nicht mehr wissen, daß wir vergessen haben. Vergessen, heißt es, sei die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies, von dem uns nur ein Staub geblieben, ein Goldstaub und ein hartes Sehnen bloß.
Und weiter heißt es, im Sündenfall hätten wir einander in unsrer Nacktheit erst erkannt und davon, heißt es, erst gewußt, daß wir den Tod zu erwarten haben. Der Tod hat es mir angetan, von meinem Anfang an. Durch die kahlen Krankengänge tanzte ich an des Vaters Arzthand, tanzte in die Sterbezimmer ein, tanzte, sang, wollte mich leersingen für die Sterber, austanzen, ihnen meine jungen Jahre unter die alte Haut tanzen.“
Ulla Unseld-Berkéwicz (Gießen, 5 november 1948)
De Russische schrijver Mikhail Artsybashev werd geboren op 5 november 1878 in Dubroslavovka. Zie ook alle tags voor Mikhail Artsybashev op dit blogen ook mijn blog van 5 november 2009 en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2010.
Uit: The Jew (Vertaald door Avraham Yarmolinsky)
“It so happened that the second platoon of the third squad of the Ashkadar regiment found itself completely cut off from the main body of the army, and this without the loss of a single cartridge or soldier.
How this came about, and why a group of men, fifteen or twenty strong, had suddenly become an independent fighting unit, none of them could tell.
At the outset, the entire Ashkadar regiment zealously trudged throughout the long autumn night along an interminable road, leading no one knew where, into the dark, damp, and hostile distance. To smoke or to converse was forbidden. In the dark, the black mass of the regiment, bristling with its bayonets like some huge, porcupine-like creature, crawled steadily onward, filling the air with the shuffling of innumerable feet. The men kept stumbling over each other, and swore viciously in half tones; they slipped in the mud and sank knee-deep into the wheel-tracks filled with cold water. "Some road!" they sighed quietly.
At dawn the regiment was brought to a halt and was stretched along the edge of a wide potato field, which the soldiers had never seen before. It was drizzling with sickening persistence, and the dark-blue distances, mildly sloping and mournful, were blurred in the haze of the rain. On both sides, as far as eye could reach, ranks of grey officers and soldiers were wretchedly soaking in the rain. Water was dripping from their sullen faces and it looked as though they were all weeping over their fate—the fate which had cast them upon this strange, unknown, God-forsaken field. In a few hours many of them will perhaps be lying dead amidst the half-rotted potato stems on the wet soil with their pallid faces upturned to the cold heavens, the very ones which now weep also over their dear, distant country.
Behind, a battery crew was vainly attempting to set the cannon which were sinking into the soaked plough-land. One could hear the hoarse angry voices, the cracking of whips, and the heavy, strained snorting of horses. In front of them lone officers wandered in drenched cloaks in the rain; still farther behind the curtain of rain and the thick fog there rumbled cannons and it was impossible to tell whether they belonged to the enemy or not. At times the shooting seemed to come from afar-off on the right. Then the rumble of the guns was deep and muffled like the sound of heavy iron balls rolling over the ground; at other times, the discharges were quite near and rent the air with a crash, bursting over the men's very heads, as it were.”
Mikhail Artsybashev (5 november 1878 – 3 maart 1927)
De Engelse dichter en schrijver James Elroy Flecker werd geboren op 5 november 1884 in Londen. Zie ook alle tags voor James Elroy Flecker op dit blog en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2009 en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2010.
I Rose From Dreamless Hours..
I rose from dreamless hours and sought the morn
That beat upon my window: from the sill
I watched sweet lands, where Autumn light newborn
Swayed through the trees and lingered on the hill.
If things so lovely are, why labour still
To dream of something more than this I see?
Do I remember tales of Galilee,
I who have slain my faith and freed my will?
Let me forget dead faith, dead mystery,
Dead thoughts of things I cannot comprehend.
Enough the light mysterious in the tree,
Enough the friendship of my chosen friend.
Mignon
Knowest thou the land where bloom the lemon trees,
And darkly gleam the golden oranges?
A gentle wind blows down from that blue sky;
Calm stands the myrtle and the laurel high.
Knowest thou the land? So far and fair!
Thou, whom I love, and I will wander there.
Knowest thou the house with all its rooms aglow,
And shining hall and columned portico?
The marble statues stand and look at me.
Alas, poor child, what have they done to thee?
Knowest thou the land? So far and fair.
My Guardian, thou and I will wander there.
Knowest thou the mountain with its bridge of cloud?
The mule plods warily: the white mists crowd.
Coiled in their caves the brood of dragons sleep;
The torrent hurls the rock from steep to steep.
Knowest thou the land? So far and fair.
Father, away! Our road is over there!
James Elroy Flecker (5 november 1884 – 3 januari 1915)
De Amerikaanse schilder en dichter Washington Allston werd geboren op 5 november 1779 in de buurt van Charleston, South Carolina. Zie ook alle tags voor Washington Allston op dit blog en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2009 en ook mijn blog van 5 november 2010.
Boyhood
Ah, then how sweetly closed those crowded days!
The minutes parting one by one like rays,
That fade upon a summer's eve.
But O, what charm or magic numbers
Can give me back the gentle slumbers
Those weary, happy days did leave?
When by my bed I saw my mother kneel,
And with her blessing took her nightly kiss;
Whatever Time destroys, he cannot this;-
E'en now that nameless kiss I feel.
The French Revolution
The Earth has had her visitation. Like to this
She hath not known, save when the mounting waters
Made of her orb one universal ocean.
For now the Tree that grew in Paradise,
The deadly Tree that first gave Evil motion,
And sent its poison through Earth's sons and daughters,
Had struck again its root in every land;
And now its fruit was ripe,-about to fall,-
And now a mighty Kingdom raised the hand,
To pluck and eat. Then from his throne stepped forth
The King of Hell, and stood upon the Earth:
But not, as once, upon the Earth to crawl.
A Nation's congregated form he took,
Till, drunk with sin and blood, Earth to her centre shook.
Washington Allston (5 november 1779 – 9 juli 1843)
Portret door Charles Robert Leslie, z.j.
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