by Paul Hartal
You can touch a stone, a tree or a flower But not the human heart, he thought Isolated from the conversation, Which went on faintly luminous Non-stellar formations, elliptical shells, Amorphous cosmic clouds, lunar crevasses And the conquest of space by man. But his mind was wandering far away Contemplating there is no ‘why? ’ in love (“Quod quaeris, ‘Quare? ’ non habet ullus amor.”) Pondering things that happened last night, How happy they were, delighted and ecstatic Sweet trembles fading on the winding path. Yet the magic now is over Just a blurred memory remains Less than a forget-me-not, A windflower or a daisy Just the infinite longing on the riverside And in the house. Only overwhelming sorrow and pain remain Immersed in the wind-borne sound of a bell From a distant church of town And beyond flesh and blood The everlasting love in transitory words Bursting through the passion Of a smashed glass of red wine in the hand. And those sad falling leaves on the street, Oh my Lord, please, grant tranquility To our restless aching souls My Lord, why are not there cheerful loves? His heart is pulsating Like solar eruptions and Cepheids His feelings are like the retrograde motion Of Oberon Oscillations of the expanding universe Shadows in Mare Imbrium And vanishing slowly in Cassiopeia.
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ABOUT THE POET ~
A man of many Odysseys, Paul Hartal is a Canadian poet, author and artist born in Szeged, Hungary. His critically acclaimed books include Postmodern Light (poetry, 2006), Love Poems (2004), The Kidnapping of the Painter Miró (novel, 1997, 2001), The Brush and the Compass (1988), Painted Melodies (1983) and A History of Architecture (1972) ., In 1975 he published in Montreal A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism. Lyco Art is a new element on the periodic table of aesthetics, which intertwines the logic of passion with the passion of logic. In 1980 the Lyrical Conceptualist Society hosted the First International Poetry Exhibition in Montreal., In 1978 Hartal exhibited his paintings at the Musée du Luxembourg and the Raymond Duncan Gallery in France and his canvas Flowers for Cézanne won the Prix de Paris. He also has displayed his oeuvre in museums and galleries in New York, Montreal, Budapest, as well as many other places., He approaches poetry with the credo that the heart of poetry is the poetry of the heart. A recurring theme of his recent work explores the human tragedies of wars and genocides.
Last updated May 02, 2015