"I Died for Beauty" - Emily Dickinson


I died for beauty – twas my choice

To end my life this way;

In every note of her voice

Was universe at play:


Twas sparkling, shining, shimmering,

Twas elegant and bright,

In it the world was glimmering

As I then held her tight.


I died for beauty – as I did

My lifeforce to her went

And from the shackles it her freed

To live by her intent:


She needed lifeforce to be strong

And then to carry on

With universe to get along

And sing again her song.


I died for beauty, so it lives,

Is by me fertilized,

Shimmers and glimmers and conceives

And is now realized,


And though I died, what it gave birth

Was better than was I,

And now is set upon her course

To grow and multiply.

By the edge, near the precipice, at the very limit,
I am beating at my horses with my arm, a whiplash in it.
I'm not getting enough air - drinking wind, the fog imbibing,
And I scent with deadly rapture: I am dying, I am dying!

Just a little slower, horses, little slower now!
Do not listen to the taut whip, it is wrong!
But my horses are uncontrollable
I can't live to the end, I can't finish my song.

I will let horses drink - the couplet I will sing
For a little bit more I will stand on the brink...

I will vanish - like a feather by the wind I will be blown,
In the morning they will drag me in the sleigh through the snow,
O my horses, walk some slower, show a bit of moderation
Just a little bit, prolong my way to final destination!

Just a little slower, horses, little slower now!
Do not listen to the taut whip, it is wrong!
But my horses are uncontrollable
I can't live to the end, I can't finish my song.

I will let horses drink - the couplet I will sing
For a little bit more I will stand on the brink...

We've arrived: nobody comes late here to greet the Lord of Heaven -
Then, why do the angels sing with voices evil, voices heavy?
Or the bell would shake from weeping, weeping gently, weeping deeply,
Or I'm shouting to the horses that they do not run so quickly?

Just a little slower, horses, little slower now!
I pray to you don't gallop along!
But my horses are uncontrollable
I can't live to the end, I can't finish my song.

I will let horses drink - the couplet I will sing
For a little bit more I will stand on the brink...

By Vladimir Vysotsky
Translated from Russian by Ilya Shambat

The golden tree, The Tree of Life -
Into its shadow I will dive
And feast upon the blessed fruit
Then dig until the very root.
Inside the root I'll find the seed
And share it with the ones in need:
The tattered hearts and spirits torn -
Between the sundown and the morn,
Between the wisdom and the bliss
Is found the fearsome abyss.
In savage light I'll find the day
And wait for love to burn away
Then conjure till the heart of Is
Corrodes and scatters - then the breeze
Will take away the Adam's feast -
As far as west is from the east
Will be the cause and the effect -
Between the impulse and the act
Between the method and the end
Will stand the rainbow. In the land
Of blind, the one-eyed man is king;
A condor with the broken wing
Will feel the presence of the light
To set himself again to flight.
And as light beams through all the earth
Will be dissolved all remorse,
Will be forgotten all the sins -
And condor with the broken wings
Will soar again, and all the blind
Will see with vision of the mind
The one in all, the all in one -
The life-tree blooming in the sun.

In intimacy there exists a line
That can't be crossed by passion or love's art -
In awful silence lips melt into one
And out of love to pieces bursts the heart.

And friendship here is impotent, and years
Of happiness sublime in fire aglow,
When soul is free and does not hear
The dulling of sweet passion, long and slow.

Those who are striving toward it are in fever,
But those that reach it struck with woe that lingers.
Now you have finally fathomed, why forever
Her heart does not beat underneath your fingers.

By Anna Akhmatova
Translated from Russian by Ilya Shambat

Pretty chuffed with my photoshopping here. Silly lady ruined my symmetry. So I got rid of her.

Pre:


Post:

He said that you were playing games
But I and you both know better:
Through passion heart on life makes claim
And makes false manacles to shatter

He said that you were playing games,
But I know wicked game he's playing
Which racket without stop or shame
The people played for three millenia:

Of treating you most terribly
Until, in anguish, you be tempted
Or broken; which would prove the lie
That women are to be mistreated -

He said that you were playing games
But I'm not playing; I am willing
To love you and you to defend
Until he stops, or else he kills me.

Let's play this game, this game of life,
Let's play this game while we're still here:
Love cuts like spear - like a knife -
And by it overcome is fear

Let's play, sweet love! In air and sun
And by the ocean iridescent:
You're strong and beautiful and young
And your soul shimmers incandescent

And when the people can espy
This game of love - this game of beauty -
Let their spirits also fly
And see all rackets stand refuted.

I like that the slightest hint of her shadow remains, so much so that it's indiscernible that it once represented a person . It's a cool concept that we don't ever really leave. I could imagine a picture of a dinner table filled with family members, with a vacant chair, with an almost unnoticeable shadow cast upon the empty tablecloth.

I know it's not what you intended, but you never know what art presents to the beholder.

Ha, I like it. If only because you're seeing cool stuff where it was just me being lazy haha.

Clearly this is a meditation on the role of trace and singularity in photography!

*sobers up* I mean. uh... Yeah I like it it's eerie.

Edit: (whitespace remover is screwing up the formatting)

If I cannot be the smile that graces your lips
Let me be the wood that burns your sorrow
If I cannot be the fire that warms your feet
Let me be the ground you walk tomorrow
May I pray my embers cast your dancing shadow on the wall
Whose unseen smile becomes your own

Courtship Exam

How do you spend your days?
Doing whatever it is I can still do without you.
What interests do you have?
Long walks on the beach into the sea.
And your sense of humour?
Good, that is why we are still talking.

Do you want to come over tonight?
Do you mean watch a screen until we get bored and fuck?
No, nothing like that, too much reality repulses me.
What do you want then?
To remain when the questions cease.
Do they ever stop?
No, but we might live them.

Do you remember that time we
almost killed each other
over a teacup?

Courtship Exam

How do you spend your days?
Doing whatever it is I can still do without you.
What interests do you have?
Long walks on the beach into the sea.
And your sense of humour?
Good, that is why we are still talking.

Do you want to come over tonight?
Do you mean watch a screen until we get bored and fuck?
No, nothing like that, too much reality repulses me.
What do you want then?
To remain when the questions cease.
Do they ever stop?
No, but we might live them.

Do you remember that time we
almost killed each other
over a teacup? — fdrake

I thought I almost killed you because I thought you were a p-zombie. :wink:

I thought I almost killed you because I thought you were a p-zombie. :wink: — Noah Te Stroete

Two behaviourists are laying in bed after fucking. One says: "That was good for you, was it good for me?"

Two behaviourists are laying in bed after fucking. One says: "That was good for you, was it good for me?" — fdrake

I remember that one. Love it!

i

seat gum
slammed door
exhaust horn
steps echo
a near gasp
street trash
blowing in Your wind

in love? :blush:

Sometimes.

Created this as a non-tolerance forming benzodiazepine with no dependency issues. I'm amazed with it.

Looks like Mickey Mouse with a hard 'on. Nice.

Looks like Mickey Mouse with a hard 'on. Nice. — Baden

Dude. I'm so proud at the moment being. This compound is called "Imidazenil" and is better than any other benzodiazepines because if you were to immediately stop taking it you won't go through benzodiazepine hell withdrawals.

What are you on about? You didn't create anything. You posted a diagram of a known chemical compound. You know what discussion you're in right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidazenil

Ok, nevermind the efforts required to synthesize a novel compound out of scratch.

You're saying you made that in your kitchen or something?

From my Rubaiyat II:

The universe’s mantle binds us worn—
Tears feeding the river on which we’re borne.
Hell’s but an ember of our senseless fears;
Heaven’s the rose-breath of opening morn.

At this hour of the dawning; up, flower of thy kind!
With rubies in crystal, come gladden the mind;
For this moment we borrow from Time on the wing
Full oft wilt thou seek nor again wilt thou find.

Morning springs us over the wasteland’s brink,
And on time’s sand we’ll the oasis drink.
Life’s strange caravan through the desert winds,
Back toward Nothing; drink—afore the lights sink.

We who dally on the soft river grass,
Drinking each others morning breath, alas,
While the flowered Persia-fumes waft about,
Are free and saved from the mosque’s tiring mass.

Night’s mystical flight of fulfilled desires
Heralds the day-star, as darkness retires;
The Sun subsumes the stars, fire-paints the dawn,
And captures the Sultan’s holy spires.

Nice. Photoshop? What does the character mean?

It's the Japanese Kanji for Shin.

Which depending on the context can be used as either Mind or Truth.

IPA still-life, inspired by yesterdays shoutbox. Might have turned out better without drinking it while painting.

My most recent rec

https://afterhours-imprint.bandcamp.com/album/imagination-deprivation