(British, September 7, 1887 – December 9, 1964)
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Edith Sitwell about 1925
by Elliott & Fry
Heart and Mind
Said the Lion to the Lioness — 'When you are amber dust,—
No more a raging fire like the heat of the Sun
(No liking but all lust)—
Remember still the flowering of the amber blood and bone,
The rippling of bright muscles like a sea,
Remember the rose-prickles of bright paws
Though we shall mate no more
Till the fire of that sun the heart and the moon-cold bone are one.'
Said the Skeleton lying upon the sands of Time —
'The great gold planet that is the mourning heat of the Sun
Is greater than all gold, more powerful
Than the tawny body of a Lion that fire consumes
Like all that grows or leaps... so is the heart
More powerful than all dust. Once I was Hercules
Or Samson, strong as the pillars of the seas:
But the flames of the heart consumed me, and the mind
Is but a foolish wind.'
Said the Sun to the Moon — 'When you are but a lonely white crone,
And I, a dead King in my golden armour somewhere in a dark wood,
Remember only this of our hopeless love
That never till Time is done
Will the fire of the heart and the fire of the mind be one.'
Said the Lion to the Lioness — 'When you are amber dust,—
No more a raging fire like the heat of the Sun
(No liking but all lust)—
Remember still the flowering of the amber blood and bone,
The rippling of bright muscles like a sea,
Remember the rose-prickles of bright paws
Though we shall mate no more
Till the fire of that sun the heart and the moon-cold bone are one.'
Said the Skeleton lying upon the sands of Time —
'The great gold planet that is the mourning heat of the Sun
Is greater than all gold, more powerful
Than the tawny body of a Lion that fire consumes
Like all that grows or leaps... so is the heart
More powerful than all dust. Once I was Hercules
Or Samson, strong as the pillars of the seas:
But the flames of the heart consumed me, and the mind
Is but a foolish wind.'
Said the Sun to the Moon — 'When you are but a lonely white crone,
And I, a dead King in my golden armour somewhere in a dark wood,
Remember only this of our hopeless love
That never till Time is done
Will the fire of the heart and the fire of the mind be one.'
Bill Brandt: Dame Edith Sitwell, Renishaw Hall (1945)
Gotham Book Mart Party for Sir Osbert and Dame Edith Sitwell (seated, center). New York City (1948) Clockwise from W. H. Auden, on the ladder at top right, Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, Randall Jarrell, Delmore Schwartz, Charles Henri Ford (cross-legged, on the floor), William Rose Benét, Stephen Spender, Horace Gregory and his wife Marya Zaturenska, Tennessee Williams, Richard Eberhart, Gore Vidal and José Garcia Villa. (Stuart Wright Collection – Randall Jarrell Papers)
On the verso Jarrell commented: “I thought you’d want this for the eyebrows. Marianne Moore and Elizabeth Bishop are just behind me, Auden on the ladder, Spender sitting table to far left. What could have possessed me to cut off so much of the moustache? That isn’t Medusa in middle with snakes, but that awful creature Edith Sitwell.” (source)
Szólt nőstényéhez az Oroszlán: "ha arany por leszel —
nem izzó láng már, mint a Nap heve
(mit nem tetszés, kéj tölt csak el),
emlékezz még arany húsod s véred rügyeire,
friss izmaid hullámfodraira,
emlékezz fényes karmod rózsatöviseire,
bár többé nem párosodunk,
míg egy a hold-hideg hús és a szív, e nap tüze."
Szólt a Csontváz hanyatt az Idő fövenyén:
"A roppant arany égitest, mely a Nap bús tüze,
több minden aranynál, s hatalmasabb,
mint rőt-testű Oroszlán, melyet tűz elemészt,
akár más élőt s mozgót ... így a szív is
hatalmasabb a pornál. Herkules valaha
vagy Sámson voltam, erős, akár a tenger tartóoszlopa,
ám a szív lángja megemésztett. És az ész
csupán bohó szél-lebbenés."
Szólt a Holdhoz a Nap: "Ha majd belőled magányos ősz banya lesz,
belőlem pedig mély erdőn aranyvértű halott király,
reménytelen vágyunkból csak az jusson eszedbe,
hogy míg az Idő be nem végeztetett,
nem lesz a szív tüze és az ész tüze egy."
Szemlér Ferenc fordítása
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