What she does and what she says
She tells me things that no man could ever tell.
Vem, serenidade!
Raul de Carvalho
Vem, serenidade!
Vem cobrir a longa
fadiga dos homens,
este antigo desejo de nunca ser feliz
a não ser pela dupla humidade das bocas.
Vem, serenidade!
faz com que os beijos cheguem à altura dos ombros
e com que os ombros subam à altura dos lábios,
faz com que os lábios cheguem à altura dos beijos.
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The photo is from the 'dancing satyr of Mazara del Vallo', a Greek bronze statue dated to the 3rd or 2nd century BC. The torso was recovered from the sea floor at a depth of 1600 ft. off the southwestern coast of Sicily, on the night of March 4, 1998, in the nets of the same fishing boat (operating from Mazara del Vallo, hence the sculpture's name) that had in the previous year recovered the sculpture's left leg. The satyr is depicted in mid-leap, head thrown back and back arched, his hair swinging with the movement of his head.
It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Not because the statue, itself, is beautiful (actually it may be considered a little creepy...). It's because it is this statue - the one that was underwater for a thousand years, the one that resisted sea and sand and even life for so long, the one that kept dancing until the day it saw the sun and sky again. It's just a marvellous story, and knowing it really happened (not so lyrically, of course, but happened) makes me feel somewhat reconciled with the world. Temporarily.