"The Hunting Of The Snark an Agony in Eight Fits" by Lewis Carroll (Fit the Third) (in English)

  

Fit the Third

THE BAKER'S TALE

     They roused him with muffins—they roused him with ice—

          They roused him with mustard and cress—

     They roused him with jam and judicious advice—

          They set him conundrums to guess.

     When at length he sat up and was able to speak,

          His sad story he offered to tell;

     And the Bellman cried "Silence!  Not even a shriek!"

          And excitedly tingled his bell.

     There was silence supreme!  Not a shriek, not a scream,

          Scarcely even a howl or a groan,

     As the man they called "Ho!" told his story of woe

          In an antediluvian tone.

     "My father and mother were honest, though poor—"

          "Skip all that!" cried the Bellman in haste.

     "If it once becomes dark, there's no chance of a Snark—

          We have hardly a minute to waste!"

     "I skip forty years," said the Baker, in tears,

          "And proceed without further remark

     To the day when you took me aboard of your ship

          To help you in hunting the Snark.

     "A dear uncle of mine (after whom I was named)

          Remarked, when I bade him farewell—"

     "Oh, skip your dear uncle!" the Bellman exclaimed,

          As he angrily tingled his bell.

     "He remarked to me then," said that mildest of men,

          "'If your Snark be a Snark, that is right:

     Fetch it home by all means—you may serve it with greens,

          And it's handy for striking a light.

     "'You may seek it with thimbles—and seek it with care;

          You may hunt it with forks and hope;

     You may threaten its life with a railway-share;

          You may charm it with smiles and soap—'"

     ("That's exactly the method," the Bellman bold

          In a hasty parenthesis cried,

     "That's exactly the way I have always been told

          That the capture of Snarks should be tried!")

     "'But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,

          If your Snark be a Boojum!  For then

     You will softly and suddenly vanish away,

          And never be met with again!'

     "It is this, it is this that oppresses my soul,

          When I think of my uncle's last words:

     And my heart is like nothing so much as a bowl

          Brimming over with quivering curds!

     "It is this, it is this—" "We have had that before!"

          The Bellman indignantly said.

     And the Baker replied "Let me say it once more.

          It is this, it is this that I dread!

     "I engage with the Snark—every night after dark—

          In a dreamy delirious fight:

     I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes,

          And I use it for striking a light:

     "But if ever I meet with a Boojum, that day,

          In a moment (of this I am sure),

     I shall softly and suddenly vanish away—

          And the notion I cannot endure!"

"Ecclesiastes" (Chapter I) by Qoheleth (in English)

1 The words of David's son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem: 2 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! 3 What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?

4 One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. 5 The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises. 6 Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. 7 All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. 8 All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. 10 Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us. 11 There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.

12 I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, 13 and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about. 14 I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,

and what is missing cannot be supplied.

16 Though I said to myself, "Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge"; 17 yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.

18 For in much wisdom there is much sorrow,

and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief.

Letter of Pope Francis to Those Who Will Be Created Cardinals at the Upcoming Consistory of 22 February by Pope Francis I (translated into English)

     Dear Brother,

     On this the day on which your designation to take part in the College of Cardinals is made public, I would like to send you my warm greeting as well as the assurance of my closeness and of my prayer. I hope that, as a member of the Church of Rome, “clothed in the virtue and sentiments of the Lord Jesus (cf. Rom 13:14), you may help me with fraternal efficacy in my service to the Universal Church.

     The Cardinalate does not signify a promotion, an honour nor a decoration: it is simply a service that demands a broader vision and a bigger heart. And, although it seems a paradox, this ability to look further and love more universally with greater intensity can be acquired only by following the way of the Lord: the way of lowliness and of humility, taking the form of a servant (cf. Phil 2:5-8). Therefore, I ask you, please, to receive this appointment with a simple and humble heart. And, while you ought to do this with gladness and joy, do so in a way that this sentiment is far from any kind of expression of worldliness, from any celebration alien to the evangelical spirit of austerity, moderation and poverty.

     We will see each other, then, on 20 February, when we will begin two days of reflection on the family. I am at your service and, please I ask you to pray, and ask for your prayers for me.

      May Jesus bless you and may the Holy Virgin protect you.

      Fraternally,

From the Vatican, 12 January 2014

FRANCIS

Sonnet VII by William Shakespeare (in English)

Lo! in the orient when the gracious light

Lifts up his burning head, each under eye

Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,

Serving with looks his sacred majesty;

And having climbed the steep-up heavenly hill,

Resembling strong youth in his middle age,

Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,

Attending on his golden pilgrimage:

But when from highmost pitch, with weary car,

Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day,

The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are

From his low tract, and look another way:

   So thou, thyself outgoing in thy noon

   Unlooked on diest unless thou get a son.

"Tristeza de Momo" by Raimundo Correia (in Portuguese)

Pela primeira vez, ímpias risadas

Susta em pranto o deus da zombaria;

Chora; e vingam-se dele, nesse dia,

Os silvanos e as ninfas ultrajadas;

Trovejam bocas mil escancaradas,

Rindo; arrombam-se os diques da alegria;

E estoira descomposta vozeria

Por toda a selva, e apupos e pedradas...

Fauno, indigita; a Náiade o caçoa;

Sátiros vis, da mais indigna laia,

Zombam. Não há quem dele se condoa!

E Eco propaga a formidável vaia,

Que além por fundos boqueirões reboa

E, como um largo mar, rola e se espraia...

"Chic Carter and the Monster of the Swamps" by Unknown Writer (in English)

Art by Vernon Henkel - Police Comics Vol. 1 #11 – Quality Comics, Sept. 1942.

 

"O Vinho de Hebe" by Raimundo Correia (in Portuguese)

Quando do Olimpo nos festins surgia

Hebe risonha, os deuses majestosos

Os copos estendiam-lhe, ruidosos,

E ela, passando, os copos lhes enchia...

A Mocidade, assim, na rubra orgia

Da vida, alegre e pródiga de gozos,

Passa por nós, e nós também, sequiosos,

Nossa taça estendemos-lhe, vazia...

E o vinho do prazer em nossa taça

Verte-nos ela, verte-nos e passa...

Passa, e não torna atrás o seu caminho.

Nós chamamo-la em vão; em nossos lábios

Restam apenas tímidos ressábios,

Como recordações daquele vinho.