The Early Grave

Perhaps the early grave

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, St James Mount, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1

Which men weep over may be meant to save.

From Lord Byron’s Don Juan (1818-1824)

The Statue Grows

The stone unhewn and cold
Becomes a living mould,

Monument to the Battle of the Nation (Völkerschlachtdenkmal), Straße des 18. Oktober, 04227 Leipzig, Germany

The more the marble wastes,
The more the statue grows.

From Michelangelo’s sonnet addressed to Vittoria Colonna (translated 1868)

Black Bull of Sorrow

Oh, white wall of Spain!

Richard Meier & Partners’ Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, Plaça dels Àngels, Barcelona, Spain

Oh, black bull of sorrow!

From Federico García Lorca’s Weeping for the Death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (1935)

The Conqueror Worm

Out—out are the lights—out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,

Falckensteinstraße, Berlin, 10997, Germany

And the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

From Edgar Allen Poe’s The Conqueror Worm (1843)

Last Words

Can this last long?

King William III, Brixham, Devon, TQ5

William III’s last words (1702)

Wreathed Smiles

Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee
Jest, and youthful jollity,

John William Waterhouse’s Hylas and the Nymphs, Mosley Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester M2

Quips and cranks and wanton wiles,
Nods and becks and wreathed smiles.

From John Milton’s L’Allegro (1631)

Last Train From Berlin

There was no warning…

Oberbaum Bridge, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg,Berlin, Germany

…just a pounding on the door and then a few fleeting minutes to settle the affairs of a lifetime.

From Howard K Smith’s The Last Train From Berlin (1943)