Summer night

The sand has lost not yet its warmth
And tardy twilight drags its feet.
The horizon with no borne
Tarries on a shore that has no end.
O naiads, fays, sirens with voice enchanting,
Brunette or blonde or pearly grey,
With goddess forms
And youth of legend lasting ever,
Will you return this eventide?

Entrancing night,
Night of beauty,
Reposing in my heart,
Bring to me the chaliced wine
Of vintage many centuries old.
Raise the cup to my eager lips,
For time is weary with its waiting
And the drunken stars
Lie sodden at your feet.

The birds all sing in psalmody,
The ranks of angels stand our guard.
And one of them, my very own,
Stands apart in the spirit host.
With gracious face
And radiant smile,
He throws his arms around my heart.

Hail to the Daylight Star!

Gleaming like gold,
shining and shimmering,
dazzling the eyes that you pierce
to give light to the soul.

Circle of flame, orb without limit,
beckoning to me,
sending your warmth
deep inside me
to quench the thirst of my heart.

Star enchanting,
life to all granting,
resurrection and grace,
a laugh on my face,
hope that will guide me
and love deep inside me.

Glorious sun, your warming blaze
makes my heart throb as I gaze
and feel the beating of your rays.

Joyous sun,
each morn I greet,
but always ask,
When shall we meet?
This evening or tomorrow.

Weaver of Light

Come you back to my embrace!
But like a wave you run apace;
Like the fleeing water flows
From my grasp between my fingers...
Like a whispered word
hardly heard,
which is lost and leaves no trace,
And so to others gives its place.

Faster than time you have ever sped,
With dazzling touch, O weaver of light,
Mantled in shimmering silver and gold!
Crushed is your glittering thread,
Melted, dissolved and dead,
But reborn on my canvas white.

Stream of harmony aglow,
Unseen you swiftly flow,
A hymn that evokes deep thought
That maddens me with music of the spheres,
In your richness caught.

Swirling light, your melody
Spears the silence of my soul;
Your message nurtures grains of love
That flower in the wastes.

Past, present and the future too
Fill my nights with moons anew;
With dreams transparent, limpid, pure,
Love eternal, boundless, true
Brings subtle shades into my being,
Into life's seasons, passing, fleeing,
With summer glory 'twixt the spring
And autumn months, which winter bring.

Terra Nostra

Planet Earth,
Planet Mother,
Planet Love,
Men transform you,
and women adorn you.

Generations like the waves
leave foam in their wake;
each telling its history,
each bearing its mystery,
they follow each other,
turned to the future
but with deep magic secrets
that long will abide.

Planet Earth,
Planet Mother,
Planet Love,
Safe keep my secret
and whisper in silence
the tale of my loves.

Joseph Matar
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Translated from French: K.J.Mortimer