Dolce
far niente
Feodor
Vasilyev, Warme zomerdag, 1869
A Summer Invocation
Thou orb aloft full dazzling,
Flooding with sheeny light the gray beach sand;
Thou sibilant near sea, with vistas far, and
foam,
And
tawny streaks and shades, and spreading blue;
Before I sing the rest, O sun refulgent,
My
special word to thee.
Hear me, illustrious!
Thy
lover mefor always I have loved thee,
Even as basking babethen happy boy alone by
some wood edgethy touching distant beams enough,
Or
man matured, or young or oldas now to thee I launch my invocation.
(Thou canst not with thy dumbness me deceive.
I
know before the fitting man all Nature yields.
Though answering not in words, the skies,
trees, hear his voiceand thou, O sun,
As
for thy throes, thy perturbations, sudden breaks and shafts of flame gigantic,
I understand themI know those flames, those
perturbations well.)
Thou that with fructifying heat and light,
Oer
myriad formsoer lands and waters, North and South,
Oer Mississippis endless course, oer Texas
grassy plains, Kanadas woods,
Oer
all the globe, that turns its face to thee, shining in space,
Thou that impartially enfoldest allnot only
continents, seas,
Thou
that to grapes and weeds and little wild flowers givest so liberally,
Shed, shed thyself on mine and memellow these
lines.
Fuse
thyself herewith but a fleeting ray out of thy million millions,
Strike through this chant.
Nor only launch thy subtle dazzle and thy
strength for this;
Prepare the later afternoon of me myselfprepare my lengthening shadows.
Prepare my starry
nights.
Walt Whitman (31 mei 1819 26 maart 1893)
Portret door Thomas Cowperthwaite Eakins, 1887
Zie voor de schrijvers van de 21e juli ook mijn blog van 21 juli 2011 deel 1
en eveneens deel 2.
21-07-2013 om 18:18
geschreven door Romenu
Tags:Dolce far niente, Walt Whitman, Romenu
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