bluebellinbloom

''We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.'' Talmud



''When I see the lark
Spread its wings for joy and fly towards the sun,
Forget itself, and fall
In the bliss that rushes to its heart
Alas! How I then envy
All creatures that I see happy.
I am amazed that my heart
Does not melt away there and then with longing.

Alas! how much of love I thought I knew
And how little I know,
For I cannot stop loving
Her from whom I may have nothing.
All my heart, and all herself,
And all my own self and all I have
She has taken from me, and leaves me nothing
But longing and a seeking heart.

I no longer had power over myself,
Nor beonged to myself, from the moment
When she let me look into her eyes;
Into that mirror which so delights me.
Mirror, since I was mirrored in you
My sighs have slain me;
I am lost
As fair Narcissus was lost in the spring,

I despair of all women;
Never again shall I trust them;
As much as I was formerly their protector
I shall now neglect them;
Since no woman will come to my aid
With her who destroys and confounds me
I fear them all and mistrust them
For well I know that they are all alike.

My lady wants to appear a good woman;
So I discourage her.
For she does not want what she should,
And what is forbidden her, she does.
I have fallen into disfavor
And behaved like the fool on the bridge
And I don't know how it came about
Unless it was that I applied too much pressure.

Mercy is lost, truly
(And I never knew it)
For she who should have had most
Has none: and where should I seek it now?
Oh! how pitiful it seems to him who sees -
wretched and lovesick as I am
Unable to know happiness without her -
How she lets me die, and will not come to my aid.

Since nothing can help me with my lady,
Neither prayers nor grace, nor the rights that I have,
Since it does not please her that I love her
I shall not speak of love again.
I give up love and deny it;
She has willed my death, and I answer with death;
I leave, since she does not hold me back,
And go wretched into exile, not knowing where.

You will not see my sorrow,
Since I am going, wretched not knowing where.
I renounce and deny my songs
And flee from joy and from love. Bernard de Ventadorn (1145-1195)

''I once heard an angel by night in the sky
Singing softly a song to a deep golden lute;
The pole-star, the seven little planets and I
To the song that he sang, listened mute,
For the song that he sang was so strange and so sweet,
And so tender the tones of his lute's golden strings
That the seraphs of heaven sat hush'd at his feet
And folded their heads in their wings.
And the song that he sang to the seraphs up there
Is called 'Love'! But the words ... I had heard them elsewhere.

For when I was last in the nethermost Hell,
On a rock 'mid the sulfurous surges I heard
A pale spirit sing to a wild hollow shell;
And his song was the same, every word,
And so sad was his singing, all Hell to the sound
Moaned, and wailing, complained like a monster in pain
While the fiends hovered near o'er the dismal profound
With their black wings weighed down by the strain;
And the song that was sung to the Lost Ones down there
Is called 'Love'! But the spirit that sang was Despair!'' ''Angel By Night'' by Marie Corelli



''How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!” Richard Bach ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull''


''Science without Religion is lame, Religion without Science is blind'' Albert Einstein

Jordi Savall

''Peace! In the name of the Lord!
Marcabru wrote the words and the tune.
Listen to what he says:
In his great goodness
the heavenly king, our Lord,
has made for us a cleansing-place
the like of which was never seen,
save far away in the vale of Josaphat;
but it is to this one
that I summon you now.

Let's wash ourselves both morning and night,
for so we should, there's no denying,
and this I would have you know.
Let each one wash while he has the chance
while he is sound of life and limb;
and this I therefore recommend,
as the very remedy to our ills.
If we die before we are cleansed
we shall not enter heaven, but stay here below.

Here are many of the line of Cain,
that first of all treacherous men.
and none of them
does honour to God.
We shall see who is
His friend sincere,
for in that cleansing bath;
Jesus shall be among us;
and let us now disown those fellows
who put their faith in auguries and chance.

The intemperate winebibbers,
the never-ready windbags
crouching on the road
shall wallow in their vileness.
God will test the brave and humble
who come to this cleansing bath;
while those unworthy wretches cower in their houses;
for they shall meet a mighty foe,
and so, to their shame, I cast them from me.

Here in Spain, the Marquis
and those of the temple of Solomon
suffer the burden
and the pride of pagans;
young men are reviled,
and by virtue of this cleansing water
infamy descends on the mightiest chiefs,
those who, broken, forlorn and sapped of valour,
are enemies of happiness or joy.

The French are unworthy
if they do not heed the cause of God
in whose defence I am rallied.
Antioch and, nearer home, Guyenne and Peitieu
cry out for men of valour and worth.
Lord, may thy cleansing bath
give peace to the Count's soul;
and may the Lord who rose from the tomb
protect both Peitieu and Niort.'' Marcabru (1100 - 1150) -- 1st Crusade. Crusaders' song: Pax in nomine Domini

''The rendezvous'' by Pierre-Charles Comte

''Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
The holy tree is growing there;
From joy the holy branches start,
And all the trembling flowers they bear.
The changing colours of its fruit
Have dowered the stars with merry light;
The surety of its hidden root
Has planted quiet in the night;
The shaking of its leafy head
Has given the waves their melody,
And made my lips and music wed,
Murmuring a wizard song for thee.
There the Loves a circle go,
The flaming circle of our days,
Gyring, spiring to and fro
In those great ignorant leafy ways;
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the wingèd sandals dart,
Thine eyes grow full of tender care:
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.

Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The demons, with their subtle guile,
Lift up before us when they pass,
Or only gaze a little while;
For there a fatal image grows
That the stormy night receives,
Roots half hidden under snows,
Broken boughs and blackened leaves.
For all things turn to barrenness
In the dim glass the demons hold,
The glass of outer weariness,
Made when God slept in times of old.
There, through the broken branches, go
The ravens of unresting thought;
Flying, crying, to and fro,
Cruel claw and hungry throat,
Or else they stand and sniff the wind,
And shake their ragged wings; alas!
Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:
Gaze no more in the bitter glass.'' by William Butler Yeats

''For I dipped into the Future, far as human eye could see; saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be. '' Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1842

'' I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.'' Bilbo Baggnis

''The Italian Beauty'' by Wolfgang Boehm

“ I've lived to bury my desires,
And see my dreams corrode with rust;
Now all that’s left are fruitless fires
That burn my empty heart to dust.” by Alexander Pushkin



''Tis the little rift within the lute - That by and by will make the music mute, And, ever widening, slowly silence all.'' by Lord Alfred Tennyson

''Spring Night'' by Alphonse Mucha

''The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.'' Marcus Aurelius

''Heart Of Snow'' by Edward Robert Hughes

''White are the far-off plains, and white
The fading forests grow;
The wind dies out along the height,
And denser still the snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree,
Falls down scarce audibly.

The road before me smooths and fills
Apace, and all about
The fences dwindle, and the hills
Are blotted slowly out;
The naked trees loom spectrally
Into the dim white sky.

The meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snow-fall hoods me round;
In wood and water, earth and air,
A silence everywhere.

Save when at lonely intervals
Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,
With rustling runners and sharp bells,
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste I hear
A sound remote and clear;

The barking of a dog, or call
To cattle, sharply pealed,
Borne echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far a-field;
Then all is silent, and the snow
Falls, settling soft and slow.

The evening deepens, and the gray
Folds closer earth and sky;
The world seems shrouded far away;
Its noises sleep, and I,
As secret as yon buried stream,
Plod dumbly on, and dream.'' by Archibald Lampman

''Peach Tree'' by Vincent Van Gogh

''How does part of the world leave the world?
How can wetness leave water?

Don't try to put out a fire by throwing on
more fire. Don't wash a wound with blood.

No matter how fast you run, your shadow
more than keeps up. Sometimes it's in front.
Only full, overhead sun diminishes your shadow.

But that shadow has been serving you.
What hurts you blesses you.

Darkness is your candle.
Your boundaries are your quest.

I can explain this, but it would break the glass cover
on your heart, and there is no fixing that.

You must have shadow and light source both.
Listen, and lay your head under the tree of awe.

When from that tree, feathers and wings
sprout on your soul, be quieter than a dove.
Don't open your mouth for even a cooooo.'' by Rumi



''Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion
or cultural system. I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up
from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all. I do not exist,
am not an entity in this world or the next, did not descend from Adam or Eve or any
origin story. My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless. Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing human being.'' Mevlana Rumi (1207 - 1273)



''Hope'' by George Frederic Watts

''My heart, sit only with those
who know and understand you.
Sit only under a tree
that is full of blossoms.
In the bazaar of herbs and potions
don't wander aimlessly
find the shop with a potion that is sweet
If you don't have a measure
people will rob you in no time.
You will take counterfeit coins
thinking they are real.
Don't fill your bowl with food from
every boiling pot you see.
Not every joke is humorous, so don't search
for meaning where there isn't one.
Not every eye can see,
not every sea is full of pearls.
My hart, sing the song of longing
like nightingale.
The sound of your voice casts a spell
on every stone, on every thorn.
First, lay down your head
then one by one
let go of all distractions.
Embrace the light and let it guide you
beyond the winds of desire.
There you will find a spring and nourished by its see waters
like a tree you will bear fruit forever.'' by Rumi from Hidden Music

''Omnia Vanitas'' by William Dyce



“Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.'' by Robert Frost



''Music doth uplift me like a sea
Towards my planet pale,
Then through dark fogs or heaven's infinity
I lift my wandering sail.

With breast advanced, drinking the winds that flee,
And through the cordage wail,
I mount the hurrying waves night hides from me
Beneath her sombre veil.

I feel the tremblings of all passions known
To ships before the breeze;
Cradled by gentle winds, or tempest-blown

I pass the abysmal seas
That are, when calm, the mirror level and fair
Of my despair!'' by Charles Baudelaire

''The Evil Mothers'' by Giovanni Segantini

''Entwined with your branches I gave my very soul to you to purify it, rid of evil, teach to love so love would thrive and flow.''



“We're the bridge across forever, arching above the sea,
Adventuring for our pleasure, living mysteries for the fun of it.
Choosing disasters triumphs challenges impossible odds,
Testing ourselves over and again, learning love and love and love!” Richard Bach ''The Bridge Across Forever''

''To the Unknown Land'' by Edmund Blair Leighton

''Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most
must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth,
the tree of knowledge is not that of life.'' Lord Byron: Manfred, Act I, Scene I

''Melancholy'' by Domenico Fetti.

''Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,—
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe;
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others' leaves to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting invention's stay;
Invention, nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,
And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
Fool, said my muse to me, look in thy heart and write.'' First Stanza from Astrophil and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney.



'' Priestess of Delphi'' by John
Collier



"Don't let your throat tighten with fear.
Take sips of breath all day and night,
Before death closes your mouth." Rumi



''When you have come to the edge of all the light you have
And step into the darkness of the unknown
Believe that one of the two will happen to you
Either you'll find something solid to stand on
Or you'll be taught how to fly!'' Richard Bach



''It is Spring in the mountains.
I come alone seeking you.
The sound of chopping wood echoes
Between the silent peaks.
The streams are still icy.
There is snow on the trail.
At sunset I reach your grove
In the stony mountain pass.
You want nothing, although at night
You can see the aura of gold
And silver ore all around you.
You have learned to be gentle
As the mountain deer you have tamed.
The way back forgotten, hidden
Away, I become like you,
An empty boat, floating, adrift.''

Tu Fu (712-720) Written on the wall at Chang's Hermitage.



''It is only with the heart
that one can see rightly;
What is essential is
invisible to the eye.'' Antoine De Saint-Exupery, from 'The Little Prince'

''On The Seashore'' by George Elgar Hicks

''The Starry Night'' by Vincent Van Gogh

''La Promenade'' by Claude Monet

''Water Lilies'' by Claude Monet

Illustration for Le Morte d'Arthur by William Russell Flint

Illustration for Le Morte d'Arthur by William Russell Flint


''A day without laughter is a day wasted'' Charlie Chaplin



''There is pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.'' by Lord Byron

"Study me as much as you like, you will not know me, for I differ in a hundred ways from what you see me to be. Put yourself behind my eyes and see me as I see myself, for I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see." Rumi ( One of the most amazing quotations i have ever come cross and one of the closest i can relate myself to )





“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass



''No thought, no action, no movement, total stillness: only thus can one manifest the true nature and law of things from within and unconsciously, and at last become one with heaven and earth." Lao Tzu

''Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad.” Victor Hugo



Ancient walls Of King John's castle. River Boyne.

The Glen Of Two Lakes

Glendalough



''It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion



''I am not afraid, I was born to do this''. Joan Of Arc



Lagoon Nebula

.''Space, like time, engenders forgetfulness; but it does so by setting us bodily free from our surroundings and giving us back our primitive, unattached state”. Thomas Mann

The Trifid Nebula

Only two things are infinite: The universe and human blindness....And i am not sure about the universe

''Abelard and Heloise'' by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale

''No, fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole;
Rise Alps between us! and whole oceans roll!
Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me,
Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee.'' Alexander Pope



''The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra



''Art and Literature'' by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

There’s music in the sighing of a reed;
There’s music in the gushing of a rill;
There’s music in all things, if men had ears:
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.
– Lord Byron



''Da Pacem Domine''

"I know a big secret, but I know it only in music and only through the music can I express it...'' Arvo Pärt



'' I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music.'' ~Albert Einstein



''You have the strength within you to fulfil all your dreams, but with strength comes responsibility. Strength is not a force to wield over others, but a force to stop others exerting power over you. Use your strength to keep focused on your path and to stop yourself being outmanoeuvred. There will always be negative people, but don’t let them upset you. Master your own ego and you will succeed.''



"Stars! In that case I may accompany you. I like stars more than anything else.I watch them as I fall asleep and wonder who lives on them and how to get there. The night sky looks so friendly with all those little twinkling eyes." - Snufkin.



Saint-Petersburg. Lanterns



''Bronze Horseman''. Saint-Petersburg



"I have outlasted all desire,
My dreams and I have grown apart;
My grief alone is left entire,
The gleamings of an empty heart.
The storms of ruthless dispensation
Have struck my flowery garland numb,
I live in lonely desolation
And wonder when my end will come.
Thus on a naked tree-limb, blasted
By tardy winter's whistling chill,
A single leaf which has outlasted
Its season will be trembling still." Alexander Pushkin



Saint-Petersburg. River Neva



Saint-Petersburg. Winter Palace



St.Petersburg ''White Nights''



“The man who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself” Friedrich Nietzsche



"Bargain not with a dragon." Dragonslayer's Guide



Rodney Smith



Rodney Smith

''The Meeting On The Turret Stairs'' by Frederick William Burton

I think of thee, whene'er the sun his beams
O'er ocean flings;
I think of thee, whene'er the moonlight gleams
In silv'ry springs.

I see thee, when upon the distant ridge
The dust awakes;
At midnight's hour, when on the fragile bridge
The wanderer quakes.

I hear thee, when yon billows rise on high,
With murmur deep.
To tread the silent grove oft wander I,
When all's asleep.

I'm near thee, though thou far away mayst be--
Thou, too, art near!
The sun then sets, the stars soon lighten me.
Would thou wert here! By Goethe



''St. George Et Le Dragon'' Enluminure



''Battle Of Hastings'' Tapestry



''Venice'' by Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky



''Moonlit Seascape With Shipwreck'' by Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky



"Pygmalian and Galatea" by Jean-Leon Gerome

''How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said.” Victor Hugo



"The Balance Of The Zodiac" by Luis Ricardo Falero



"Leda And The Swan" by Giovanni Rapiti



''Eve'' by Anna Lee Merritt



''The Birth OF Venus'' by Alexandre Cabanel



Beautiful Venice...



''The Shadow'' by Edmund Blair Leighton

Alas! how much I knew of love,
I thought, but so little know of it!
For now I cannot check my love
For her, who'll give me little profit.
She has my heart and all of me,
Herself and all the world; and nothing
Leaves to me, when thus she takes me,
Except desire and heartfelt longing. by Bernart de Ventadorn at court of Eleanor of Aquitaine



''In The Night Sky'' by Hans Zatzka ( Magnificent paintings! )



''Pearls Of The Sea'' by Hans Zatzka

''Lady Godiva'' by John Collier

''...Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity:
The deep air listen'd round her as she rode,
And all the low wind hardly breathed for fear.
The little wide-mouth'd heads upon the spout...'' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson



Jeanne, the child of innocent light
Young body’s imprisoned in armour
Despair’s descended its fears upon night
While you have risen holding your banner

In the cold flame you stand, face serene
Hands are folded, fingers clutching the cross
You have foretold the history of France
You have foreseen ill doing of your king.

Voulchers are ready to rip you apart
Spiteful mouths curse your soul, evoking hell
We prayed to god your tourment will not last.
He heard our song, Jeanne. His paradise awaits you.

Farewell.... Larisa

La Belle Dame sans Merci

''...I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song...'' by John Keats

''Chivalry'' by Sir Frank Dicksee

Joyous in love, I make my aim
Forever deeper in Joy to be.
The perfect Joy's the goal for me:
So the most perfect lady I claim.
I've caught her eyes. All must exclaim:
The loveliest heard or seen is she. by Guilhem IX of Poitou

''Springtime'' by Pierre Auguste Cot

''Nymphs and Satyr'' by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

''Storm'' by Pierre Auguste Cot

''Virginite'' by Guillaume Seignac

''L'Innocence'' by Guillaume Seignac

''A Nymph In The Forest'' by Charles Amable Lenoir

''Pierrot's Embrace'' by Guillaume Seignac

''The Fragrance Iris Oil'' by Guillaume Seignac

Magna Carta

''Medieval Tapestries''

''Tristan And Isolde'' by Lord Frederick Leighton

''The Fisherman And The Siren'' by Lord Frederick Leighton

''Hylas And Nymphs'' by John William Waterhouse

''Romeo And Juliete'' by Frank Francis Dicksee



''Accolade'' by Edmund Blair Leighton


''Lamia'' by John William Waterhouse

'' La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John William Waterhouse