Black Pencil

I am just about bursting with excitement...in two weeks I will be able to see the original copies of my favourite painter, "Black Pencil" or Mehmet Siyah Kalem, at the Istanbul Topkapı Palace Museum Library. This picture of the horse is simply wonderful. I think the man is rubbing the horse down after a day's ride; J. thinks he is holding the horse's tail as they negotiate a steep trail. Either way, the mood is very joyful and calm.

To see other paintings in this style, click here.

The Sunlight on the Garden

Louis MacNeice

The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold,
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.

Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.

The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying

And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17514/17514-h/images/illus-86.jpg

Our New Puppy

Born: March
Gender: Female
Colour: Harlequin-Merle
Breed: Great Dane
Temperament: Bold

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Alexander Pope

Baudelaire

Lowell