Photograph: Public Domain
Fluttering of the now
gluaiseann an uile ní sa ghrá
as ar cruthaíodh iad
ar a bhfillfidh siad
mura mbeadh sé amhlaidh
chuirfeadh blátha inár gcoinne
all things move in love
are created out of love
return to love
if it were not so
flowers would revolt against us
Bertrand-Jean Redon, better known as Odilon Redon (20th April 1840–6th July 1916), was a French Symbolist painter and printmaker. Known for his pastels and oils, as well as the collection of beautiful lithographs, Guardian Spirit of the Waters (Dans le Rêve), he was deeply fascinated by Hindu and Japanese culture, his art often featuring images of the Buddha.
Gabriel Rosenstock was born in 1949 in postcolonial Ireland and works as a bilingual poet, haikuist, tankaist, children’s writer, essayist, novelist, short story writer, playwright and translator. He is a member Aosdána (Irish Academy of Arts & Letters) and is a Lineage Holder of Celtic Buddhism. Broken Angels is the fourth in an ongoing series of ekphrastic tanka books published by Cross-Cultural Communications, New York, and available as a free e-book on the EDOCR platform.
In this week’s guest post for The Culturium, Gabriel offers a selection of exquisite mystical tanka (five-line verse) in response to Odilon Redon’s glorious art.
My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined. They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous. I await joyous surprises while working, an awakening of the materials that I work with and that my spirit develops. I have a feeling only for shadows. It is precisely from the regret left by the imperfect work that the next one can be born. The artist yields often to the stimuli of materials that will transmit his spirit. My originality consists in putting the logic of the visible to the service of the invisible.
—Odilon Redon
Photograph: Public Domain
abair slán le talamh
le gach cuing
slán leis an muir
is gearr go dtabharfaidh ár mbád sinn
thar fhíor na spéire
say farewell to land
to all that ties us
farewell to the sea
soon our boat will take us
beyond the horizon
Photograph: Public Domain
ceangail do chuid gruaige, a shearc
ceangail mise chomh maith
ceangail chomh foirfe sin mé
nach sleamhnóinn go deo
as an néal seo
bind Your hair, beloved
bind me while You are at it
bind me perfectly
that I may never escape
this glorious dream
Photograph: Public Domain
a shearc
roinnim mo bhuairt
leis an gcrann
tosnaíonn na duilleoga ag titim
ceann ar cheann
beloved
to the tree
I whisper my sorrow
one by one
leaves begin to fall
Photograph: Public Domain
i ngairdín
aigne Chang Tsu
lorgaíomar a chéile
a shearc, an tAm i Láthair
ag eiteallaigh anois is choíche
in the garden
of Chang Tsu’s mind
we looked for one another
beloved, the fluttering
of the Now as always
Photograph: Public Domain
lig dom breathnú
inár ndiaidh tríotsa
is amach romhainn
is sa mhóimint seo
is tusa ann
let me look with You
into the past
into the future
into this moment
that is You
Photograph: Public Domain
im’ bhrionglóidí
seo chugam as réaltbhuíonta thú
crithloinnir ríméadach
dá bhféadfainn frídín díot
a phéinteáil anocht
You visit me in dreams
emerging from constellations
shimmering in ecstasy
if only I could paint
a fraction of You tonight
Photograph: Public Domain
is tú dúchas
na mbláthanna go léir
is tú mo shaol
ag dúiseacht
peiteal ar pheiteal ar pheiteal
You are
what every flower is inside
You are the awakening
of my life
petal by petal by petal
Photograph: Public Domain
an mbíonn comhrá idir réaltaí
an aithníonn tonnta na mara
a chéile
cad is féidir a rá
nach eol duit cheana féin
do stars converse
do waves of the sea
recognize one another
what can I tell You
that You already do not know
Photograph: Public Domain
cá ngabham anois
an domhan ar bharr lasrach
á leá os ár gcomhair
san fholús sin
ba chliabhán dúinn fadó
where is there left to go
a world in flames
see, it fades before our eyes
melts into the nothingness
that cradled our beginning
Photograph: Public Domain
níor fhágamar riamh gairdín Dé
istigh ionainn atá
ceansaigh beach mhallaithe
na smaointe
is—féach!—tá sé ann
we never left god’s garden
it lies within us
still the maddening bee
of thought
and—look!—it is there
Photograph: Public Domain
siúil leis an mBúda
i measc na mbláth
oidí dósan is dúinne
a gcumhracht is a ndath
a meath milis gach nóiméad
walk with the Buddha
among flowers
his teachers and ours
their perfume and all their hues
moments of sweet decay
Photograph: Public Domain
bhí an uile ní
i súil mo ghrása
ó thús ama
d’fhéadfadh fíorghrá bheith ag bláthú
leis na cianta gan fhios dúinn
in my beloved’s eye
was all of creation
since the beginning of time
true love takes aeons
Photograph: Public Domain
greanadh as tost thú
is leáigh arís i dtost
cá bhfuilir anois
i measc chama an ime
is sailchuacha
from silence You were carved
and melted into silence
where are You now
among buttercups
and primroses
Photograph: Public Domain
do phóg
tost
an Bhúda
do bharróg
tost Chríost
Your kiss
the silence
of the Buddha
Your embrace
the silence of Christ
Post Notes
- Gabriel Rosenstock’s Amazon page
- Gabriel Rosenstock’s blog
- Masood Hussain & Gabriel Rosenstock: Mahatma
- Masood Hussain & Gabriel Rosenstock: Love Letter to Kashmir
- Kon Markogiannis, Gabriel Rosenstock & Sarah Thilykou: Angelic Flights
- Debiprasad Mukherjee & Gabriel Rosenstock: Last Stop Before Salvation
- Gabriel Rosenstock & Debiprasad Mukherjee: Mural World
- Gabriel Rosenstock & Ron Rosenstock: Haiku Enlightenment
- Nicholas Roerich: Beautiful Unity
- Kahlil Gibran: Poet, Painter, Prophet
- Wassily Kandinsky: Concerning the Spiritual in Art
