from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
“I read a poem every night, as others read a prayer”
Tahar Ben Jelloun, poet
Month: June 2018
Written at the Sungting Relay Station by Chang Hu
Hill shapes merge with the far-off sky
east of the mist-covered marshlands
the ocean glows with the day’s first light
the river turns white in the distant wind
steep trails lead to a high plateau
small paths link columns of smoke
why are all my retired friends
not here among the Five Lakes
translated by Red Pine
Chiupu River Song by Li Pai (Li Po)
My white hair extends three miles
the sorrow of parting made it this long
looking in a mirror who would guess
where autumn frost comes from
translated by Red Pine
from of books by Michel de Montaigne
I seek in books only to give myself pleasure by honest amusement; or if I study, I seek only learning that treats of the knowledge of myself and instructs me in how to die well and live well: “This is the goal toward which my sweating horse should strain.” Propertius
translated by Donald M. Frame
from of the education of children by Michel de Montaigne
Let him be asked for an account not merely of the words of his lesson, but of its sense and substance, and let him judge the profit he has made by the testimony not of his memory, but of his life. Let him be made to show what he has just learned in a hundred aspects, and apply it to as many different subjects, to see if he has properly grasped it and made it his own, planning his progress according to the pedagogical method of Plato. It is a sign of rawness and indigestion to disgorge food just as we swallowed it. The stomach has not done its work if it has not changed the condition and form of what has been given it to cook.
translated by Donald M. Frame
Leonard Durso 