Tuesday, 8 July 2014

The Drina Bridge

The Drina Bridge

My desk, like the Drina Bridge, is a conduit of human passage.

Today, Hosea, in the Liturgy

Vitis frondosa..
fructum producens sibi..

Osee 10,1

Henry de Motherlant

Of M Henry de Montherlant, Mr Peter Quennell

It is this gift of poetic assimilation, shown in the fusion of sensous and intellectual imagery, that gives the book [Le Songe - The Dream] its literary value.

Weiden and Nicolson 1962

Ivor Andrić

In his 1961 Nobel Prize Award response

Cogitavi dies antiquos et annos æternos in mente.

I recall the iconic pose of M Ivor Andrić before The Drina Bridge recorded in monochrome.

My desk: a conduit of human passage, like the august Drina Bridge.

Grateful Acknowledgement

Novo Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio
Weiden and Nicolson 1962 Translation Henry de Montherlant The Dream with its jacket design by Philippe Julian
Nobel Prize Foundation
Samsung Galaxy AutoDesk SketchBook

Thursday, 3 July 2014

Cum vero corde

A Motto

The writing desk and bench have a motto

Cum vero corde

LH II:777

vere, real life, integrated

cor, mind, judgement

Grateful Acknowledgement

Liturgia Horarum Volume II

English Oak


Poem
My English Oak Writing Desk and Bench

The man who made my desk
Knew a good deal about my temperament
He had a useful informer:
His friend the child who grew up
Exposed to my cultural influence
Now a woman entering university
I drew my technical design
And passed it to AT exactly a month ago
Stressing the two most important measurements
Humeral length
Tibial length
For poise it has
Carthusian exactness
The oak is untreated
Character grade
I have yet to imbibe its grain
My first piece of writing was the cheque
For one thousand two hundred pounds sterling
I wrote this with my Waterman Concorde
Êncre Havanne
The desk was installed after Vespers of
The Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul Apostles
And consecrated after the Dominical Rosary Eight in the evening
Sunday June twenty-ninth
Two thousand fourteen
Sitting at it for the first
Was a drawing out of grace, words, and deep inventiveness
So let me learn the mystery of the bench and desk’s grain and character

Epiloque

The commission gave me opportunity to encourage the craftsman to use protective accessories: certified visor, respiratory filters and dust extractors, skin protection, correct lifting technique. Only this week, the Health and Safety Executive published its report on Asthma and Occupational Exposure to Allergens, wood dust being one of the most irritant.