(baudelaire's madrigal triste)

Sois belle! Et sois triste! Les pleurs
Ajoutent un charme au visage,
Comme le fleuve au paysage;
L'orage rajeunit les fleurs.

Je t'aime surtout quand la joie
S'enfuit de ton front terrassé;
Quand ton coeur dans l'horreur se noie;

(my favorites, from caravaggio:)

narcissus and medusa

dragon and tiger (yoshimura kokei, 1836. a symbol of harmonious balance, yin and yang.)

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Deux formes ont tout à l'heure passé.

Leurs yeux sont morts et leurs lèvres sont molles,
Et l'on entend à peine leurs paroles.

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé.

(william blake) satan in his original glory "thou wast perfect till iniquity was found in thee"

I am the only actor.
It is difficult for one woman
to act out a whole play.
The play is my life,
my solo act.
My running after the hands
and never catching up.
(The hands are out of sight –
that is, offstage.)
All I am doing onstage is running,
running to keep up,
but never making it.

世の中は地獄の上の花見哉

(In this world / We walk on the roof of hell / Gazing at flowers)

(a haiku from Kobayashi Issa)

william blake's great red dragon and the woman clothed with the sun

impression: sunrise
(monet, 1872)

(the Albatross, Baudelaire)

[...] Winged traveller, gauche, gross, useless, laughable,
now, one of them, with a pipe stem, prods you,
who, a moment ago, were beautiful:
another, limping, mimics the cripple who flew.
+

paul rubens + greek myths:
medusa (my favorite)

paul rubens and greek myths:
fall of icarus + prometheus bound

(botticelli's primavera, 1482.)

(poe, annabel lee.)

And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

saturn devouring his son.
(goya's, 1823 — rubens', 1636)

to see her is a Picture —
to hear her is a Tune —
to know her an Intemperance
as innocent as June —
to know her not — Affliction —
to own her for a Friend
a warmth as near as if the Sun
were shining in your Hand.

(dickinson.)