SAPPHO 31 /

TO ME HE SEEMS LIKE A GOD

 AS HE SITS FACING YOU AND

 HEARS YOU NEAR AS YOU SPEAK

 SOFTLY AND LAUGH

 IN A SWEET ECHO THAT JOLTS

 THE HEART IN MY RIBS.  FOR NOW

 AS I LOOK AT YOU MY VOICE

 IS EMPTY AND

 CAN SAY NOTHING AS MY TONGUE

 CRACKS AND A SLENDER FIRE IS QUICK

 UNDER MY SKIN.  MY EYES ARE DEAD

 TO LIGHT, MY EARS

 POUND, AND A SWEAT POURS OVER ME.

  I CONVULSE, GREENER THAN GRASS,

 AND FEEL MY MIND SLIP AS I

 GO CLOSE TO DEATH,

 YET, BEING POOR, MUST SUFFER

 EVERYTHING.

- SAPPHO, 'UNTITLED (FRAGMENT 31)', c.600 BCE.

/

(FROM A SECOND VERSION OF A TRANSLATION

 BY WILLIS BARNSTONE, 1988.)

CHARLES AUGUST MENIN /

 'SAPPHO’, (1877)

"'...HE LITTLE THINKS OF THE MARVELOUS PART HE HAS TO PLAY IN THE FUTURE.'

 'SO HE IS TO GO WITH US AS FAR AS -'

 'AS FAR AS THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH, AXEL.'"


 - JULES VERNE, 'JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH', 1864.

GENEVIÈVE BJARGARDÓTTIR /
 ''þoka (MIST), SUMMER IN THE EAST FJORDS', (2010)


/


OUR TROUBLES AND OUR TRIALS HERE
 WILL ONLY MAKE US RICHER THERE
 WHEN WE ARRIVE AT HOME,
 WHEN WE ARRIVE AT HOME.


- ANON, 'GARDEN HYMN', FROM A SUPPLEMENT TO THE 'KENTUCKY HARMONY', 1826.

SOL-FA -> SOLFÈGE /
 SINGERS OF THE 98th HENAGAR UNION SACRED HARP CONVENTION AND PHILIP GLASS ENSEMBLE.

'BELOVED' (1998), JONATHAN DEMME.

ARVO PÄRT /

 'FRATRES' FOR VIOLIN & PIANO.
 GIDON KREMER & KEITH JARRETT

ABSOLUTELY DIVINE.

 ONE CANNOT HAVE ENOUGH PÄRT IN ONE'S LIFE.