Poetic-Verses from ATHANASE
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (English)
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
to Gerard ter Borch
'My contention is that human beings can never reach the pure essence of things, the true nature of Being. Every philosopher has attempted to do this but none has succeeded. The more we let our ignorance teach us, the closer we will come to truth itself.'
Nicholas of Cusa, De Docta Ignorantia
Soul, you know nothing of the tenderness of the Scholastics,
their celestial ethics, the emerald abysses
of their philosophy as incendiary as the music of an ode
where Beauty raises mystical knowledge to new heights!
Soul, you know nothing of Hermes or why he was named Trismegistus,
of the hermetic book of Hermias of Alexandria,
of the spiritual frenzy of the Kabbalah, of the laws of alchemy
and its majestic ancient texts, of the maxims of the humanists.
But, Soul, you do know everyday love,
the humble trembling of a shy heart,
the joy of words spoken honestly, seriously, virtuously,
flowing now with the daylight across your tranquil face.
My sister, my lovely reader, what are they saying to your fingers,
this calm place, this luminous letter?
Athanase Vantchev de Thracy
Translated into English by Norton Hodges
to Gerard ter Borch
'My contention is that human beings can never reach the pure essence of things, the true nature of Being. Every philosopher has attempted to do this but none has succeeded. The more we let our ignorance teach us, the closer we will come to truth itself.'
Nicholas of Cusa, De Docta Ignorantia
Soul, you know nothing of the tenderness of the Scholastics,
their celestial ethics, the emerald abysses
of their philosophy as incendiary as the music of an ode
where Beauty raises mystical knowledge to new heights!
Soul, you know nothing of Hermes or why he was named Trismegistus,
of the hermetic book of Hermias of Alexandria,
of the spiritual frenzy of the Kabbalah, of the laws of alchemy
and its majestic ancient texts, of the maxims of the humanists.
But, Soul, you do know everyday love,
the humble trembling of a shy heart,
the joy of words spoken honestly, seriously, virtuously,
flowing now with the daylight across your tranquil face.
My sister, my lovely reader, what are they saying to your fingers,
this calm place, this luminous letter?
Athanase Vantchev de Thracy
Translated into English by Norton Hodges
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Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (English)
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (English)
