The Lovers’ Chronicle 17 March – survive – art by Mikhail Vrubel – photographs by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Y’all. We will drink a pint of Guinness to your health!

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag dedicated to his muse. Follow us on twitter @cowboycoleridge. Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

dream survivor…
Alone, as before, in the universe
Without hope and without love!..
"The Demon" (1830) Mikhaïl Lermontov 
how did i git here and where is here,
somewhere in the mountains at sunset,
works for me, hey who is that sad lookin’ dude
-He walks up to the demon who is seated on a rock-
hey man, howzit goin’
I have no place here, says the demon, I am
a romantic spirit, once full of hope, searching
for harmony and truth, and I found it in my
Georgian princess, she fulfilled my longing,
but she died from my kiss, now I’m crushed
and have no place in this world
dang dude, i thought i was unlucky in love
i cannot top that but i know how you feel
there was a time i would have sat here with you
and we could have faced this thing together
but i survived my trials and i must return
to the the one that i belong with
-He wakes in bed next to the sleeping redhead,
he pulls her close to him and she murmurs;
My love you are cold
oh sorry bebe, i had a dream
of who i once was and where i was
Well now you here in the place we created
not alone, with

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well, did that obviously
“Certainly glad you did”
we can drama it up
and say it was a close call
but not sure about that
“You could have gone
with, stayin’ alive”
ooh then we could have
disco’d the night away
“All kidding aside”
right, again, we both
endured what we had to
to survive to be here

all of this, a survival tale, not unique, probably not as harrowin’ as most, but that does not diminish how it felt goin’ through the fire, and a firm believer that whatever happens no matter how awful, can be survived if you write about it, that you are readin’ this is proof it worked for one, all of that in case anyone was wonderin’ where this comes from, now if selectin’ a theme for today, might go with thrive, what has been goin’ here since you

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it is beginnin’, feelin’
look at us seekin’, not too late,
the fine taste of each day’s vision

and that recurrent dream pullin’
a swayin’ dance in the moonlight,
of slippin’ between the cool sheets now
together effortlessly holdin’ on

Pale Love, Pale Rider

curious
what have i learned
from writin’ everyday;

it is the daily grapple
with absurdity

some days it can be
dismissed summarily

other days
it threatens to suffocate
in an overwhelmin’ grip

so that just holdin’ on
is a struggle

every year
without knowin’
passed the days

the last fire has waned
and the search has settled

tireless traveler
at first light
no longer
find myself
surprised
at the one

today writin’
in the sunshine
hearin’ the song
and the fallin’ ease

knealin’
and knowin’ to what

just finished road trippin’
another long well enjoyed trip
windin’ the Audi up to ninety plus
miles per hour as often as possible
on long lonesome High Plains highways
affords plenty of time for contemplatin’
hangin’ in there, where the roads have been
and, most important, where they are goin’
are you along for the ride

Slainte, Jameson black barrel Irish whiskey

slainte guinness

st. Patrick wore boots

shamrock texas

the honor of your attention…
accept this verse,
humbly served

persistence, take a look
many years spent searchin’
for a many splendored thing
many years spent fightin’,
or ignorin’, a nature geared
not for permanence,
but for stoppin’ just long
enough to check the cinch
and jump the fence again

but now, headin’ home, alone
to study the rhyme, the rhythym
to write my songs, to paint,
to try to make
a little sense of it all

sure you could say
what took so long
to which i reply,
hell if i know

my name by you
not yet known

includin’ good and bad,
balance the art of bein’
survive the ire
of time wasted
in the failed search
for any splendored thing

Every day a little apocalypse
Every day just a little bit closer
Every day just survivin’, hangin on
Every day still strugglin’ with forgiveness

Today is the birthday of Mikhail Vrubel (Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel; Omsk, Russian Empire; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910 Saint Petersburg); painter of the Symbolist movement and of Art Nouveau. He deliberately stood aloof from contemporary art trends, so that the origin of his unusual manner should be sought in Late Byzantine and Early Renaissance painting.

During 1896, he met the opera singer Nadezhda Zabela. Half a year later they married and settled in Moscow, where Zabela was invited by Mamontov to perform in his private opera theatre. While in Moscow, Vrubel designed stage sets and costumes for his wife, who sang the parts of the Snow Maiden, the Swan Princess, and Princess Volkhova in Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas.

Gallery

Model in a Renaissance setting

Tamara and Demon. Illustration to Lermontov’s poem, 1890

The Swan Princess, 1900

Six-winged Seraph, 1904. Stored at the Russian Museum

The Fortune Teller, 1895

“After a concert”, 1905. Unfinished portrait of Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel. Stored at the Tretyakov Gallery

Morning, 1897. Stored at the Russian Museum

The Pearl Shell, 1904. Stored at the Tretyakov Gallery

The Princess of the Dream, 1896. Stored at the Tretyakov Gallery

The Judgement of Paris, 1893

Demon Seated, 1890. Vrubel considered this demon as “a spirit, not so much evil as suffering and sorrowing, but in all that a powerful spirit… a majestic spirit”

And today is the birthday of Léopold-Émile Reutlinger (Callao, Peru 17 March 1863 – 16 March 1937 Paris); photographer who came from a successful German-Jewish family of photographers. His uncle Charles Reutlinger founded the family’s photography business, and his father was the photographer Émile Reutlinger. His son Jean Reutlinger was also a prominent photographer. Reutlinger was also one of the pioneers of erotic photography.