In the Future I do not stand alone!

Hi Benu!


No - you do not stand alone!

The Right Mask

One night a poem came up to a poet
From now on, it said, you must wear a mask.
What kind of mask? asked the poet.
A rose mask, said the poem.
I´ve used it already, said the poet,
I´ve exhausted it.
Then wear the mask that´s made out of
a nightingale´s song, use that mask.
Oh, it´s an old mask, said the poet,
it´s all used up.
Nonsense, said the poem, it´s the perfect mask,
still, try on the god mask,
now that mask illuminates heaven.
It´s a tight mask, said the poet,
and the stars crawl about in it like ants.
Then try on the troubador´s mask, or the singer´s mask,
try on all the popular masks.
I have, said the poet, but they fit so easily.


The poem was getting impatient,
it stamped its feet like a child,
it screamed. Then try on your own face,
try the one mask that terrifies,
the mask only you could possibly use,
the mask only you could wear out.


The poet tore at his face til it bled,
this mask? he yelled, this mask?
Yes, said the poem, yes.


But the poet was tired of masks,
he had lived too long with them,
he snatched at the poem and stuck it in his face.
Its screams were muffled, it wept, it tried to be lyrical,
it wriggled into his eyes and mouth.


Next day his friends were afraid of him,
he looked so distorted.
Now it´s the right mask, said the poem, the right mask.
It clung to him lovingly and never let go again.



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Benu - you seem to be such a beautiful soul,, right now,,i am with you

Who do you see yourself standing with?

Star, Nightmare and AC 960......



Thankyou.

We Wear the Mask

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.



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Wow,,N-Mare!!! Its a powerful!



[link to www.stefanmart.de]

AC 1177

I stand with all those who dream the dream,
I stand with all those that have fought to live,
I stand with all who love and care,
I stand with all who know me,

Love and Light will always be,
forever and ever for all eternity.

Very nice Benu

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer;
no disease that enough love will not heal;
no door that enough love will not open;
no gulf that enough love will not bridge;
no wall that enough love will not throw down;
no sin that enough love will not redeem...
It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble;
how hopeless the outlook; how muddled the tangle; how great the mistake.
A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.
If only you could love enough you would be
the happiest and most powerful being in the world...

A SOUL
Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

Benu

Thanks AC 178............keep dreaming the dream to the end of time!

The Mask

William Butler Yeats -


´Put off that mask of burning gold
With emerald eyes.´
´O no, my dear, you make so bold
To find if hearts be wild and wise,
And yet not cold.´

´I would but find what´s there to find,
Love or deceit.´
´It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not what´s behind.´

´But lest you are my enemy,
I must enquire.´
´O no, my dear, let all that be;
What matter, so there is but fire
In you, in me?´


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A Soul................love what you wrote and so very true.

I here you Nightmare..............peace to you my friend. May the love of light forever shine upon your soul.

A Soul - love - enthusiasm of youth -

[link to www.deaselpowered.com]

Nice poetry, peeps.

Thank you, Benu! We are all ONE!!! ;)


Peace, laughter, love...

The Dead Man and His Masks


When the dead man thinks himself exposed, he puts on a mask.
Thinking himself exposed, the dead man puts on a mask.
Before he needed a mask, he wore his medals on his chest and his heart
on his sleeve.
The dead man wears the mask of tomfoolery, the mask of assimilation,
the mask of erasure, the scarred mask, the teen mask, the mask
with the built in oh, the laughing mask, the crying mask, the secretive
mask, the telltale mask,and of course the death mask.
The dead man´s masks are as multifarious as the wiles of a spider left to work
in the bushes.
To the dead man, a spider´s web is also a mask, and he wears it.
The trail of a slug is a mask, and the vapors from underground fires
are a mask,and the dead light of sunset is a mask, and the dead man
wears each of them.
The dead man curtained off the world, now everything between them is a mask.
He weaves masks of sand and smoke, of refracted light and empty water.
The dead man takes what the world discards: hair and bones, urine and blood,
ashes and sewage.
The dead man, reconstituted, will not stay buried, reappearing in disguises
that fool no one yet cast doubt.
He comes to the party wearing the face of this one or that one, scattering
the shadows as he enters.
When there is no one face, no two faces, no fragility of disposition,
no anticipation, no revelation at midnight, then naturally years pass
without anyone guessing the identity of the dead man.
It is no longer known if the dead man was at the funeral.



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[link to www.pictormurus.com]

[link to www.flee.com]

[link to www.art-ist.ru]

You are and never will be alone.
A soul embrace to you

[link to all-ez.com]

United we stand.


Let us not allow ourselves to become divided.

Many shall stand and be new

What is Hidden Behind the Mask?
Evelina Rioukhina, UNECE

“A mask tells us more than a face” (Oscar Wilde)


History of Masks

The mask is any device, which wholly or partially conceals the face. It is significant to note the word “person” derives from a Greek word meaning mask, or the role played by an actor in a dramatic performance. Persona, “the mask”, is related to personality, the self or ego one reveals to the world. Masks have the ability to conceal, change, or transform the “person” behind the image into something or someone else. This metaphoric “else”, this “as if” quality of masks makes them both playful and powerful, and relates them to ritual, religious, and myth. Masks allow to pretend, and much more.

Masking has been around for at least 20,000 years. Images painted on cave walls in southern France depict human bodies with animal heads, this evidence has led some scholars to conclude that the association of these masked figures to drawings of animals is an indication of masked rituals of shamans’ rites intended to insure the continued presence of game. More conclusive evidence of a masking tradition is found at a site in the Sahara Desert dating to 10,000 years ago. The mask portrayed there bears a strong resemblance to masks used in West Africa in recent times. Masking tradition also existed in prehistoric Europe between 7,000 and 8,000 years ago.

Masks were made and used in the great civilizations of the Old and New Worlds. Death masks accompanied the Egyptian mummy to the tomb, and allowed the soul of the deceased to recognize the body after it returned to the tomb in the evening. Masks were used by the Aztecs and Maya of Middle America, and the Inca and other civilizations of the Andes. Finally, tribal societies continue to use masks ritually today.

In tribal societies masks are agents for curing illness, for combating witchcraft and sorcery, and for correcting the causes of affliction in general. The False Faces of the Iroquois people have this function, as do certain kinds of masks used in West Africa.

In other cultures the masks represent the forces of nature and life. Often these forces or energies are recordered in myths and are given human or animal form, as on the Northwest Coast of North America, and in some parts of Africa. Rituals performed for the continuance of life, so called “fertility rites”, also often involved masked performance, and usually correspond to seasonal changes or planting and harvesting ceremonies. The Pueblo peoples of the Sourthwestern United States perform dances to promote fertility and rainfall, as do Africans living in the drier regions of the Western Sudan.

The Ynuit in Alaska believed that every living creature had a double existence and could change at will into the form of a human being or an animal. Thus, Ynuit masks were often made as double faces – one of an animal and the other of a man. At certain stages of festive ceremonies, the outer mask would be lifted, exposing the other mask. In Brazil, the primitive natives made and wore masks representing animals, birds, and insects.

The Chinese, Indians, and Japanese used masks from ancient times in a variety of different ways including theatre. Masks were used in ancient Greece and Rome for drama and festivals. This is where the true use of the mask as an artistic device began. With the end of the ancient Roman civilization, masks fell into disuse. Early Christians frowned upon the use of the masks as a pagan practice.

Nowadays masks are widely used for carnivals. A carnival is a spontaneous manifestation of national playfulness, an expression of the nation’s sense of theatre. The most important carnivals are: Mardi Gras, Quebec Winter Carnival, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Carnival of Nice, Kölner Carnival, Il Carnevale di Viareggio, Le Carnaval de Binche, New Orleans Mardi Gras, and of course, one of the most remarquable carnivals in Europe is the Carnival of Venice or il Carnevale di Venezia, with its famous face masks, long history and traditions.


Masks of il Carnevale di Venezia

The Venetian face masks are the most significant component of the carnival. Venice Carnival masks fall into several categories:
• Commedia dell’Arte masks are based on traditional characters like Harlequin and Pierrot.
• Fantasy masks are figments of the mask maker’s imagination, although they may be inspired by historical designs.
• Traditional Venetian masks such as the white volto half-mask with nose cover and its variants, the “plague doctor’s” mask with its phallic beak. (According to tradition, the beak was intended to protect the wearer from being infected by the plague).

Masks are the hallmark of il Carnevale di Venezia. Venice’s Carnival began in the 11th Century, and the wearing of masks and costumes was well established by 1436, when mask makers or mascareri were officially recognized with their own guild.

The Carnival in Venice is said to have originated from an important victory of the “Repubblica della Serenissima” (as Venice was called at that time), in the war against Ulrico, Patriarch of Aquileia, in the year of
1162. To celebrate this victory, dances and reunions started to take place in San Marco Square. Of course, it was usual in those times, and due to the multicultural character of Venice, magicians and others joined the fun. Who for business, who for fun only.

The beginning this celebration started the day after Christmas and went on for several weeks. This carnival merrymaking acquired special sophistication. During the carnival days the town was ruled by tabarro – a long winter coat, bautta – a short raincoat and the carnival mask. The address was “Mr. Mask” and “Mrs. Mask”, the actor’s parts did not allow the viewers to recognize the person and reveal his/her identity. Forcible tearing the carnival mask off was punished by the authorities as violation of permissible play. Carnival Tuesday was the culminating day when the most diverse undertakings by various guilds used to take place all over the town and especially in San Marco Square, often with some historically justified origin that gave rise to the Venice Carnival tradition. The Venice Carnival is regarded as one of the most significant carnivals today.

Each year in February, Venice becomes a city of the manifestation of joy and playfulness, public festivity. The whole city turns into an immense theatre stage. At the carnival everyone, whether rich or poor, famous or unknown, is equal behind the mask. “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell the truth.” (Oscar Wilde). Is the mask on to reveal the truth, or, on the contrary, is the mask on to hide the truth?

Italy. Venice. San Marco Square
Performance begins…Joy, craziness and reason, all together. The music of Vivaldi, beautiful and mysterious masks…Every mask is made with the philosophy that are limitless to what can be created. Every mask hides enigma. Every mask keeps secret. Every mask fascinates imagination.
What is hidden behind the mask?


[link to www.unspecial.org]

The Mask


Allegorical Statue in the Style of the Renaissance
To Ernest Christophe, Sculptor


Let us gaze at this gem of Florentine beauty;
In the undulation of this brawny body
Those divine sisters, Gracefulness and Strength, abound.
This woman, a truly miraculous marble,
Adorably slender, divinely robust,
Is made to be enthroned upon sumptuous beds
And to charm the leisure of a Pope or a Prince.


— And see that smile, voluptuous and delicate,
Where self-conceit displays its ecstasy;
That sly, lingering look, mocking and languorous;
That dainty face, framed in a veil of gauze,
Whose every feature says, with a triumphant air:
"Pleasure calls me and Love gives me a crown!"
To that being endowed with so much majesty
See what exciting charm is lent by prettiness!
Let us draw near, and walk around its loveliness.


O blasphemy of art! Fatal surprise!
That exquisite body, that promise of delight,
At the top turns into a two-headed monster!


Why no! it´s but a mask, a lying ornament,
That visage enlivened by a dainty grimace,
And look, here is, atrociously shriveled,
The real, true head, the sincere countenance
Reversed and hidden by the lying face.
Poor glamorous beauty! the magnificent stream
Of your tears flows into my anguished heart;
Your falsehood makes me drunk and my soul slakes its thirst
At the flood from your eyes, which Suffering causes!


— But why is she weeping? She, the perfect beauty,
Who could put at her feet the conquered human race,
What secret malady gnaws at those sturdy flanks?


— She is weeping, fool, because she has lived!
And because she lives! But what she deplores
Most, what makes her shudder down to her knees,
Is that tomorrow, alas! she will still have to live!
Tomorrow, after tomorrow, always! — like us!


Charles Baudelaire

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“September, let´s go. It´s time to migrate.
Now in Abruzzo my shepherds
leave the folds and go toward the sea..”

L´Aquila: Little-Known Capital of Abruzzo


"Santa Maria di Collemaggio. With its magnificent pink-and-white stone façade, its 14th-century frescoes, its Holy Door (the only one in Christendom outside of Rome), and its majestic pure Gothic interior, it would be a masterpiece of Abruzzo-style romanesque even without the unique story of its creation.

Santa Maria di Collemaggio owes its life to Pietro Angeleri [1215-1296], a pious monk who was a hermit for 3 years on Mount Maiella. In 1294, after he wrote a letter of protest to the college of cardinals in Rome, he was unexpectedly elected pope, taking the name of Celestine V. 100,000 people, including Dante Alighieri, attended his incoronation in L´Aquila.

The new pope issued a general pardon to everyone who made the pilgrimage to his beautiful parish church to repent. Then, just as unexpectedly, after a mere three months, he became the only Pontiff ever to renounce his throne. He begged to return to his hermitage but his successor, Boniface VIII, locked him up in Fumone Castle, where he died two years later. Only in death did he return to this beautiful church, where his tomb is visible in the austere nave (stripped of its ornate Baroque trappings as recently as 1972), and his life is illustrated in a series of canvases painted by a 17th-century Flemish disciple. L´Aquila celebrates Pietro Celestino´s general pardon every August 28 and 29, with two beautiful processions that are memorable for their pomp and circumstance and exquisite period costumes."

[link to www.initaly.com]

Thankx AC 1177 for this interesting post about L´Aquila, that is a beautiful italian city but not a must-see. Anyway I´m from Pescara (the italian Miami Beach), also it in Abruzzo on the Adriatic sea.

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“September, let´s go. It´s time to migrate.
Now in Abruzzo my shepherds
leave the folds and go toward the sea..”