Reflections - Leon Malinofsky

 


 

       

Dear Reflections visitors – Leon Malinofsky is 71 and slowing

down, but not so much that he will let Plexipages fall by the

wayside  It's been a long time, but if you knew me in the Good

 Old Days, please get in touch!

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In the life of a man, his time is but a moment.... his sense, a dim rushlight. All that is body is as coursing waters.... all that is of the soul, as dreams, and vapors. -- Marcus Aurelius

Many grains of frankincense on the same altar;  one falls before, another after-- it makes no difference.  -- Marcus Aurelius

Zum Sehen geboren / Zum Schauen bestellt, / Dem Turme geschworen / Gefällt mir die Welt. -- Goethe

 


 

Click on a topic of interest, or scroll down the page -

Voices * Spirit * Passion * Muse * Nature * Eros * Joy * Romance * Eternity * Innocence * Transcendence * Voyages * Mammon * Apocalypse * The Ribald * De Profundis * An Arabesque * A Conjuration * Fine Art * The Metaphysics of Skydiving * Dark Things * Links! * About the Author * Your Comments

 

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-- denotes a selection in verse
-- denotes a selection of music or voice
-- denotes a sound file in TrueSpeech format
-- denotes a QuickTime video clip
-- denotes an MPEG layer 3 compressed music file (.mp3).

 


 

Voices

The world according to Marcus Aurelius (.wav - 291,150 bytes) TrueSpeech version!

Dylan Thomas reads "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" (.wav - 1,060,864 bytes)Approximately a 7-minute download time at 28.8 Kbps. TrueSpeech version (.tsp - 102,714 bytes!)

Dylan Thomas reads "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" (.wav - 1,236,992 bytes)Approximately a 9-minute download time at 28.8 Kbps. TrueSpeech version (.tsp - 160,000 bytes!)

 


 

Spirit

The Lee Shore -- a meditation on thought and independence, by Herman Melville

An exaltation from the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss (.wav - 712,704 bytes) A five-minute download time at 28.8 Kbps and well worth it.  TrueSpeech version. mp3 version!  The CD of this stunning, legendary performance, by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, is only $12. at Amazon!!

 


 

Passion

The Two Trees, by William Butler Yeats Image of Yeats

The Two Trees, sung by Loreena Mckennitt Reading the lyrics by W. B. Yeats while hearing this music can be a transcendent, unforgettable experience. Here is an image of Loreena Mckennitt! The selection is from McKennitt's album entitled "The Mask and Mirror".
Amazon has the entire CD for about $15, and it is great!

 

The Shepherd's Lament (Goethe), translation by Leon Malinofsky

Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae, by Ernest Dowson
-- ("I am not quite as I was under the rule of the beautiful Cynara")

The Theologian's Tale, by H. W. Longfellow
-- A tale of faith and courtship told in plain dactyls, with a powerful subtext. From "Tales of a Wayside Inn".

A Pilgrimage to Kevlaar (Heine), translation by Leon Malinofsky
--"Die Wallfahrt Nach Kevlaar" is an unusually powerful work of passion, prayer and deliverance.

 


 

Muse

Ars Gratia Artis, by C. P. Cavafy

To the One of Fictive Music, by Wallace Stevens

Sometimes The Sky's Too Bright, by Dylan Thomas (with interpretation)

A Letter To My Aunt Discussing The Correct Approach to Modern Poetry, by Dylan Thomas
-- "A Letter To My Aunt" is a satire, in verse, of an aunt's poetic pretensions

The Singer (Goethe), English translation by Leon Malinofsky

 


 

Nature

The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower, by Dylan Thomas (with interpretation)

A Forsaken Garden, by Algernon Charles Swinburne

The Law of the Yukon, by Robert W. Service -- a rather different view of nature from Swinburne's.

White Orchids -- photography by Leon Malinofsky.  High-resolution copy of image used as background for "The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower", above.  Approximately 1.7 MB.  The image may be used freely.

 


 

Eros

Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti  19K .gif of Christina Rossetti

Farewell to Eros, by Clark Ashton Smith

Bette Davis Eyes -- song lyrics by Donna Weiss/Jackie DeShannon

The God and the Bayadere  (Goethe) -- One of the very finest ballads by Goethe, here in English translation by Leon Malinofsky.

 


 

Joy

The Comedian Harmonists: Wochenend und Sonnenschein (Approx. 3 meg filesize-- ca. 18 mins. to download at 28.8 Kbps)

The Comedian Harmonists, a group of six young men, sang in Cabaret-era Berlin (early 1930s). Their renditions radiate pure joy.

Go  for a photo and to browse the definitive CD of their work!

 


 

Romance

Translations by Leon Malinofsky

Ich und Du (You and I), by Christian Friedrich Hebbel

Es Färbte Sich Die Wiese Grün (With Color Blooms the Meadow Green), by Novalis

Das Veilchen (The Violet), - Goethe  In 21 brief, elegant lines Goethe captures the epitome of romantic devotion.

 


 

Eternity

gee i like to think of dead, by e e cummings

Thanatopsis, by William Cullen Bryant

in a middle of a room, by e e cummings

The Garden of Proserpine, by Algernon Charles Swinburne

The Reaper and the Flowers, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow --written by the poet after the tragic loss of his wife and children in a fire.

what if a much of a which of a wind, by e e cummings

 


 

Innocence

Fern Hill, by Dylan Thomas

Fern Hill, read aloud by Dylan Thomas (True Speech audio file... see note above!)

 


 

Transcendence

The Emperor of Ice Cream, by Wallace Stevens

Of Mere Being, by Wallace Stevens

The Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait, by Dylan Thomas

The Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait, read aloud by Dylan Thomas. (TrueSpeech audio file-- see note above!)

Moonlight -- brief verse

The Fish, by Rupert Brooke

 


 

Voyages

The Elixir

The Dark Side of the Moon (.jpg- 206,259 bytes)

Orbit of Venus (.gif- 236,597 bytes)

A Landing on the Surface of Mars (.jpg- 296,449 bytes)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Perhaps the strangest voyage of all.

 


 

Mammon

mam mon (noun). 1. New Testament. riches or material wealth. 2. (cap.) a personification of riches as an evil spirit or deity.

The Common Cult, by George Sterling

 


 

Apocalypse

The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats

All Along The Watchtower, by Bob Dylan
-- Click on any branch of imagemap or any element of outline for interpretation

 


 

La Condition Humaine

A Contribution to Statistics, by Wislawa Szymborska
"A Contribution to Statistics" is a little-known poem by a Nobel Laureate Polish poet.  It is a wry appraisal of human nature.

 


 

The Ribald

the boys i mean are not refined, by e e cummings

 


 

De profundis

Mozart (.wav - 1,384,448 bytes) From the C-sharp minor sonata, performed by Vladimir Horowitz.TrueSpeech version.mp3 version!

Beethoven (.wav - 1,308,672 bytes) From the Hammerklavier sonata in B-flat, Op. 106, performed by Rudolf Serkin. TrueSpeech version. mp3 version! Midi file version (entire movement)

Franz Schubert-- Der Doppelgänger. Performed in Russian by the legendary Feodor Chaliapin. For an English translation of the lyrics, look . For a slideshow of this performance featuring images of Chaliapin, click here.

Der Blumen Schmerz (a song by Franz Schubert) --  sheet music only in .pdf format.  One of the rare, undiscovered gems of the Schubert songs.  With an interlined English translation by Leon Malinofsky.  Edited text of the English translation.

 


 

An Arabesque

The Place of the Solitaires, by Wallace Stevens

 


 

A Conjuration

The Conjuring in the Iron Tower, by E. R. Eddison-- Possibly the finest fictional account of an alchemic conjuration in the literature.

 


 

Fine Art

Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver, by Rembrandt van Rijn
After ten years of searching, I have finally found a color image of this work!

A Visit to the Musee D'Orsay
Eleven superb (mostly impressionist) paintings.

 


 

The Metaphysics of Skydiving

The time has come for The Metaphysics of Skydiving to have its own page, complete with quotes, personal reflections, skydiving verse, pictures, a movie, a short story, some cartoon humor by Don Martin, and lots of colorful graphics. To visit this page, click !

 


 

Dark Things

Monsters from the Id-- Two short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that demonstrate the link between poetry and horror.

Nyctalops, by Clark Ashton Smith

The Lord of the Smoking Mirror-- Tezcatlipoca, most potent and implacable of the Aztec deities. Speaks in Delphic portents through the mirror, his gateway. Look into the smoking glass-- what is he saying?

 


 

Links!

(These links will open in a new browser window.)

University of Toronto Library -- poems and literature in English

The poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Project Bartleby - Works of Melville, Shelley, Wordsworth, Wilde, Whitman

Dead Poets Society -- formerly known as Richard's Poetry Library.
A wonderful collection of favorite poems.

The Thinking Man's Minefield
Some intriguing, some outrageous intellectualisms compiled by Kevin Solway

Booklovers: Fine Books and Literature Page
-- maintained by Piet Wesselman

Poetry Lover's Guide to the World Wide Web -maintained by Lucius Furius. Poems by Lucius Furius

The Wondering Minstrels --  A rich poetry archive created by Abraham Thomas and Martin DeMello at Rice University-- browse alphabetically through an extensive list of significant poets.  You can also join a poem-a-day email list.  Great for discovering new poems!

 


 

Your comments are most welcome.

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Leon Malinofsky, lmalinofsky -at- gmail -dot- com

For the terminally bored or morbidly curious, some biographical information on Leon is .

 


 

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