Friday, May 31, 2013

Blog Intermission No. 20 (entr'acte) - Journey, a poem

Blogging friends who have been reading my posts for a while know that I love to travel - whether it is a walk in our area, a quick trip in our state, a long journey or a voyage on the seas to faraway places - the idea is to move.  I am pleased now that I can take many pictures with my digital camera.  In my earlier travels I took photographs too, small ones in black and white or colored slides - they don't look too sharp.  Many trips I made alone, some with family and some with friends.  Below are friends in Oslo, Norway.


Now I can take many pictures (I show just a fraction of them on my posts.)  I like to look at all my photos of past journeys to remember the places I have seen, cities, small towns, nature, the sea, mountains, birds and relive these moments - everything, like the seagulls on Tybee Island in Georgia,

or walking into the fog in Newfoundland, Canada.


or admiring ancient trees in the Alamo Gardens in San Antonio, Texas,

or listening to some folk music in Croatia,

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or going to a street market in Italy,

or coming upon a pretty cat sitting on a path in Jimmy Carter's childhood farm in Plains, Georgia.

Below is a poem by Italian poet Paolo Ruffilli (born in 1949.)  It is called "Viaggio" which translates as "Travel" or "Journey" - I translated it into English below.  Ruffilli uses short, lyrical and musical words.  Roberto Marcho, an English Literature teacher in Italy says of Ruffilli's poetry:  "He often tells a story in an attempt to recover a memory that "is not a way of looking back to recover what is definitively lost" but the narration of the past perceived to be "inside each one of us," since "our past is what we are."

 Travel by Stagecoach circa 1811 by Pavel Petrovich Svinin (Russian-born American 1787-1839)

Viaggio

Poi, alla fine,
mi metto in motto
nonostante
la tentazione di restare
nelle zone piu vicine
in vista del mio noto.
Ma, in compenso, parto
solo per tornare.
Non so neanch'io
cos'e che vale
e mi convince. . .
un'intuizione certa
un sesto senso
che mi spinge,
la conscienza fulminante
di una scoperta
paradossale,
che bisogna perdersi
per potersi davvero
ritrovare.  Paolo Ruffilli

  The Bath to London Coach, by Charles Cooper Henderson, British 1803-1877

Translation:

Journey

Then, at last
I go away
despite
the urge to stay
as closely as I can
in familiar surroundings.
But against that, I leave
only to return.
I do not know either
what is so true
and convincing
about this thought . . .
a strong intuition
a sixth sense
driving me,
the sudden realization
of a paradoxical
 discovery,
that you must first lose yourself
before you can truly find yourself again.  - Paolo Ruffilli

Stagecoach at Le Treport, France by Jules Achille Noel, French 1815-1881 

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see."  - John Burroughs, American Naturalist 1837-1921.

San Francisco, California - View of Coit Tower, Alcatraz and Marin (courtesy English Wikipedia.)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Note:  Post pre-programmed - This is a blogger break.

16 comments:

Amanda said...

If time and money was abundant, I would always be traveling. (San Francisco is such a fun and beautiful city).

DJan said...

Lovely pictures! I know how much you love to travel, and those pictures certainly make me understand why. When I was younger I loved the adventure of travel, but now I am happy to stay closer to home and visit places through books and pictures. :-)

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Lovely to see so very many pictures that you have taken of so very many places. You are both such great travelers---and, to be able to take so many photographs is a great thing. I think you and your dear husband have seen more of the world than most people will ever see---And it seems the same thing goes for the U.S. too....It is fantastic, really!

Rosaria Williams said...

Loved the poem, and you did a great job translating it! Hope your break is salutary.

David said...

Vagabonde, We haven't been to mainland Europe but the photos of Tybee Island, San Antonio and San Francisco sure bring back memories! We love to travel and Newfoundland is on our bucket list! Beautiful photo... Thanks and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Nadezda said...

The last photo is great! I love most the sky, clouds and the city under that sky!

Elephant's Child said...

I am so glad that you not only love to travel - but to share the wonderful places you see. Thank you. The ancient trees in particular in this post won my heart. Where ever you are in your blogging break, I hope it is full of love and magic.

Thérèse said...

Wonderful post!
And John Burroughs' words could be the ones of many of us, your readers.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

You certainly have a talent for photography. Enjoy your break. I'll be thinking of you and look forward to your return.
Sam

Jenny Woolf said...

Enjoy your travels. I liked looking at your evocative photos of various places. I am sure glad I didn't have to travel before the age of trains and cars, though. I wonder if the vehicle in the first picture is what they call a diligence - a kind of stagecoach which people were packed in. I am told they were very uncomfortable, but then I expect they ALL were very uncomfortable, even the supposedly comfortable ones! :)

Kay said...

I do love looking at all our old photos too. It's fabulous that we have digital photos now so I can take as many as I want to record all those little details that jog a memory.

Down by the sea said...

I always enjoy seeing pictures of places you have visited. I like the words too. Hope you enjoy your blogging break.
Sarah x

Perpetua said...

Enjoy your break and thank you for this lovely post and poem.

Jeanie said...

This is fun -- I like seeing where you have been, too!

Marguerite-marie said...



Au dessus des vieux volcans
Glissant des ailes sous les tapis du vent
Voyage Voyage
Eternellement
De nuages en marecages
De vent d´Espagne en pluie d´equateur
Voyage voyage
Vol dans les hauteurs
Au d´ssus des capitales
Des idees fatales
Regarde l´ocean

Voyage voyage
Plus loin que nuit et le jour {voyage voyage}
Voyage {voyage}
Dans l´espace inoui de l´amour
Voyage voyage
Sur l´eau sacree d´un fleuve indien {voyage voyage}
Voyage {voyage}
Et jamais ne reviens

Sur le Gange ou l´Amazone
Chez les blacks chez les sikhs chez les jaunes
Voyage voyage
Dans tout le royaume
Sur les dunes du Sahara
Des îles Fiji au Fuji-Yama
Voyage voyage
Ne t´arretes pas
Au d´ssus des barbeles
Des cœurs bombardes
Regarde l´ocean

Voyage voyage
Plus loin que nuit et le jour {voyage voyage}
Voyage {voyage}
Dans l´espace inoui de l´amour
Voyage voyage
Sur l´eau sacree d´un fleuve indien {voyage voyage}
Voyage {voyage}
Et jamais ne reviens

Au d´ssus des capitales
Des idees fatales
Regarde l´ocean
Voyage voyage
Plus loin que nuit et le jour {voyage voyage}
Voyage {voyage}
Dans l´espace inoui de l´amour
Voyage voyage
Sur l´eau sacree d´un fleuve indien {voyage voyage}
Voyage {voyage}
Et jamais ne reviens

paroles d'une chanson qui eut du succès il y a un moment de "Desireless"
un beau billet sur les voyages. Profite bien§

Mandy said...

Some of these places are close to me and accessible too but your posts always make me keen to travel across America - a lifelong dream of mine.

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