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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter working in Milan Cameo - Venus and Adonis in a Landscape ca. 1575 sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Alessandro Masnago Cameo - Sleeping Shepherdess in Moonlit Landscape ca. 1590 agate Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
NOVEMBER
Gemlike the air, the sun so bright above,
you look for blossoms on the apricot trees,
recall the bitter whitethorn scent you love
and sniff the breeze.
But the whitethorn's withered, the brittle boughs
hatch their black schemes against the empty blue,
and earth rings hollow now beneath the blows
of every shoe.
Around you, silence, but for sighs that spill
in upon every gust, from grove and wood:
frail settlements of leaves. This is the chill
summer of the dead.
– Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912), translated by Geoffrey Brock
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Cameo - Bust of Emperor Hadrian 16th-17th century sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Cameo - Bust of a Roman 17th century chalcedony Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Netherlandish gemcutter Cameo - Cupid before Jupiter among clouds 17th century argonite Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Cameo - Head of Youth (made for Pope Paul V Borghese) early 17th century agate Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
A MEMORY
I cannot sleep. I see a street, some pines,
and in my heart the old anxieties gather.
We used to go there alone, to be together,
another boy and I.
It was Passover, the old folks' rites arcane
and slow. And if he doesn't care enough,
I thought, and if he doesn't come tomorrow?
Tomorrow he did not come: a new pain.
Spasms that evening of grief. Now I know
friendship wasn't what we had in our grove;
what we had was love –
the first. And such love then, and what a glow
of joy, between the hills and sea of Trieste . . .
But why, tonight, am I unable to rest,
when all this happened fifteen years ago?
– Umberto Saba (1883-1957), translated by Geoffrey Brock
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Cameo - Bust of Athlete ca. 1700-1750 sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Cameo - Sphinx 18th century jasper with quartz Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Giovanni Pichler (Rome) Cameo - Young Woman with Torch and Vase ca. 1770-90 sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Giovanni Pichler (Rome) Cameo - Portrait of Couple in Roman style ca. 1775-80 sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Giovanni Pichler (Rome) Cameo - Seated Woman reading ca. 1770-90 sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Giovanni Pichler (Rome) Cameo - Head of Young Man in Roman style ca. 1775-80 sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
NOVEMBER
Young men and old men
gather again in groups
among the sultry ruins of Rome
over which plane-trees let fall,
with a papery sound,
leaves turned gold.
The young men tell the old men
what is to their liking;
the old men make believe they do not hear.
– Aldo Palazzeschi (1885-1974), translated by Frederick Mortimer Clapp
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Gryllos Cameo - Youth, Bearded man, Satyr, and Ram ca. 1775-1825 onyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian gemcutter Cameo - Head of a Satyr ca. 1775-1825 sardonyx Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Nathaniel Marchant Cameo - Portrait of Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton ca. 1786-87 chalcedony Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |