Author: thecradle

Sonnet VI

Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374)

VI

I once beheld on earth celestial graces
And heavenly beauties scarce to mortals known,
Whose memory yields nor joy nor grief alone,
But all things else in cloud and dreams effaces.
I saw how tears had left their weary traces
Within those eyes that once the sun outshone,
I heard those lips, in low and plaintive moan,
Breathe words to stir the mountains from their places.
Love, wisdom, courage, tenderness, and truth
Made in their mourning strains more high and dear
Than ever wove soft sounds for mortal ear;
And heaven seemed listening in such saddest ruth
The very leaves upon the bough to soothe,
Such sweetness filled the blissful atmosphere.

Translated by Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1903)

Photo: Courtesy of Annie Spratt / Unsplash

Wood

The most robust element, of the five basic ones, is Wood. The element of Wood shows its sturdiness in the growth of grass through a concrete slab, in the steadfastness of conifers on the top of a windy, icy mountain, and in the seeds that crack in the sun and heat and give new life.

Wood is a symbol of new beginnings and unwavering perseverance, but also flexibility.

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Interview with a Polyglot

Interview – Laura Blumenthal
Author: Natasa Dinic

Laura Blumenthal is a polyglot who speaks six languages. She is an English language educator and a teacher trainer at Douglas College, in New Westminster, BC. She has lived and worked in the U.S., Germany, Turkey, and Canada. She is currently learning Serbian and Russian, and is active on the Polyglots Facebook group.

We spoke with Laura about what is means to be a polyglot and how much richer her personal and professional life has been as a result.

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A Reflection on an Excerpt from a Diary of Teaching Serbian as a Foreign Language Online

The world is constantly on the move and everything movable moves together with it. With the ceaseless unfolding of new chapters of life, the human race is moving, slowly but surely, into online reality with everything it brings along.

Two years ago, when I replaced almost all traditional classes of teaching Serbian language as a foreign language with online teaching, I didn’t dream that the time would soon come, when this would become just about the only possible way.

Continue reading “A Reflection on an Excerpt from a Diary of Teaching Serbian as a Foreign Language Online”

The Red Poppy

Louise Glück 

The great thing
is not having
a mind. Feelings:
oh, I have those; they
govern me. I have
a lord in heaven
called the sun, and open
for him, showing him
the fire of my own heart, fire
like his presence.
What could such glory be
if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters,
were you like me once, long ago,
before you were human? Did you
permit yourselves
to open once, who would never
open again? Because in truth
I am speaking now
the way you do. I speak
because I am shattered.