Saturday 21 December 2013

Outside the context


Van vremenskog i prostornog konteksta...




























































Man and the Sea (Charles  Baudelaire)

Free man, you shall forever cherish the vast sea,
The sea, that image where you contemplate your soul
As everlastingly its mighty waves unroll.
Your mind a yawning gulf seasoned as bitterly.

Embracing it with eyes and arms; your very heart
Sometimes finds a distraction from its urgent smart 
In the wild sea's untamable and plaintive roar.
Man, who has ever plumbed the far depths of your being?

O Sea, who knows your private hidden riches, seeing
How strange the secrets you preserve so jealously?
With hands unsparing and with unforbearing breath, 
Each an eternal foe to his relentless brother, 

So avid are you both of slaughter and of death.
You love to plunge into your image to the core,
Both of you live in darkness and in mystery:
And yet for countless ages you have fought each other 

— Jacques LeClercq, Flowers of Evil (Mt Vernon, NY: Peter Pauper Press, 1958)