With Words Golden and Blue

a gothic poem of devotion

artist: Karr, source: Iampeth

a poem by Jenő Dsida, translated by Joe Váradi

With Words Golden and Blue

As in a secret nook
of a cobwebbed, vaulted
ancient chamber, daydreams
a medieval friar,
long ago ridden of
all earthly desire,
favored by the heavens
and halfway exalted —

sits at his stately desk
books piled to the sky,
wedging precious images
between graceful initials,
rendering Madonnas with
golds and blues, celestials
‘til with a gentle smile
he gives up his last sigh:

thus would I like to limn
your likeness, too, my dear,
by my evening lantern’s
flickering, dying light,
with words golden and blue
to paint no one but you,
’til my fingers give out,
branches stricken with blight,
and my head drops to
a peaceful, divine
caress, my Love, my
world’s most precious sight.