'As a great fish swims between the banks of a river as it likes, so does the shining Self move between the states of dreaming and waking'- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (tr. Eknath Easwaran) Spanish (Antonio Machado) English (my translation) Hay dos modos de conciencia: una es luz, y otra, paciencia. Una estriba en alumbrar un poquito el hondo mar; otra, en hacer penitencia con caña o red, y esperar el pez, como pescador. Dime tú: ¿Cuál es mejor? ¿Conciencia de visionario que mira en el hondo...

Torquato Tasso’s lovely elegy- of sorts- for a friend opens with a beautiful use of Italian. ‘Non è questo un morire,’ literally ‘This is not a dying.’ It doesn’t quite work to my ear in English- at least not as gracefully- hence my below attempt. The fifth (sixth, in Italian) line gave me a little pause for thought. Does pietà here mean compassion or reverence? It was tempting to settle for the former, which would make a lovely individual line (‘But only pity for the last departure’), but I...

Currently obsessed with this painting of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Giovanni Bellini. The play of light is extraordinary; look at the clearness of his face, and the soft shadows on the side of his head. But above all look at the silk robes (as noted on the National Gallery website, 'reserved for the most splendid occasions'). The realism of the patterns, and the soft folds in the garment, is such that you can almost feel it flow between your hands. And despite this vividness the tidiness is...