Snowy Ruby

A six-pointed flake has descended
from the heavens onto my palm
to caress a pure lamb soul
and coelesced
at the tip of a sapling into a glittery glint of a star
by the scent of a sweet braided bread
in misty traces in snowdrifts left;
beneath the ice, bubbles have reached for the light,
a fish eye has glistened and a slippery carp has gasped for breath
in the depth of mulled ruby wine.

Snowy Ruby @ Ladanseuse
English translation of Sněžný rubín
Liter Art 14. 11. 2024: sweet bread, carp, flake, sapling, mulled wine
Editing on 20. 1. 2026, publication antedated 24. 12. 2025

The Glitter of Cosmic Boroughs

In the garth stands high a gem of a majestic plum,
a carpet of violets has ascended to the skies
and fused itself into psychedelic stars;
the giant constellation of Canis Major has effloresced through the dark,
from behind shrouds has emerged a winged angel,
a duckling ruffling her plumes;
crimson Luna has perfused into a love-apple
with a glittery tail of cosmic boroughs.

The Glitter of Cosmic Boroughs © Ladanseuse
English translation of Třpyt vesmírních měst dated 21. 7. 2024, based on the Czech concept writ. during Liter Art on 23. 5. 2024 using [transl.] tomato (love-apple), duckling, dog, plum, lecho; published on 21. 7. 2024

Glowing Sahara

 In the still of infinity glows Sahara, lying bare, 
the wind blows in her, disheveling strands of her hair;
mills of God grind slowly but surely;
Luna has surfaced, surfing on duny waves, like an alchemyst,
in her flare, love's embrace, dream-filled heart quakes
Lady Night has spread out her astral canvas.

Glowing Sahara © Ladanseuse
English translation of  Žhnoucí Sahara dated 18. 7. 2024,
based on the Czech concept writ. during Liter Art using given words [transl.] Sahara, the still, Luna, mill, love, edited & published on 18. 7. 2024

The Platan

 Almighty gardian of Infinity,
you have rooted me in the reality of worlds;
connected with the Earth, I am outreaching towards the heavens,
with my arms outstretched to Entirety;
touching my dreams,
I evanesce into thaumaturgic dimensions.

The Platan © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Platan" dated 20. 11. 2023,
based on the Czech concept of 5. 10. 2023, writ. during Authentic Movement at R. M.'s, edited & published on 19. 11. 2023

We, Stories

This dictum 

echoes in my ears:

"In stories we will turn".

but we are these

stories that breathe!

We'd better detect 

means of their portrayal

before breathless we are,

before reminiscences we become!

We, Stories © Ladanseuse

Translation "My, příběhy" on 5.. 4. 2022

Written in Czech on 23. 12. 2021, edited & published on 2. 4. 2022

"In stories we will turn", a paraphrasis of In the end, we'll become stories" by Margaret Atwood

Catharsis by Fire

Baptism by fire will purge you;
you behold the fire's formidable glow,
which will burn down
but the old, but the evil,
for the new
from it will arise
unscathed!

Catharsis by Fire © Ladanseuse
Written bilingually, in Czech "Katarze ohněm", on 15. 11. 2021

Girl, Bound in Fear

 Girl,
wounded,
bound in fear,
her bashful eyes can only see
miniscule moles as giants mounts;
the mind engulfed  in thoughts
her lips cannot tell of;
her closeness drowns in the distance,
and yet she hides the whole world in her heart
from fear, the thief
that from her will steal 
all things and souls
that to her are dear.

Girl, Bound in Fear © Ladanseuse
Written bilingually, in Czech "Dívka strachem spoutaná", on 14. 11. 2021

Nefelibata II.

I am a cloud walker,

a Peter Pan of the skies;

what is not, I dream up;

what is, only dreams realize;

only in reverie I feel alive;

it makes me ask whether you are real,

or whether I've dreamt you into being ‒

you, my too-good-to-be-true one;

a dream of my heart,

which would stop beating

if you were gone.

Nefelibata II. © Ladanseuse

Written bilingually, in Czech "Nefelibata" on 14. 11. 2021 

Meshuga

That lunatic

got on the train,

out of the window his sanity went,

even if he swore blind that would not be the case,

and got off at the next station, where

he hurled love into a burning pyre.

Meshuga © Ladanseuse
Excerpt from a poem written in 2000, transl. & edited  "Mešuge" in 2021

The Perfidious Promise

Hope ‒ the perfidious promise
of childlike, smiling eyes,
sweetly kissing lips, 
a gratifying embrace;
hope ‒ but one touch of yours suffices
for yet another hopeless day
to arise.

The Perfidious Promise © Ladanseuse
Transl. "Věrolomný příslib", written in 2001

Omnipotence

You can break me up,
as I have no heart;

you can condemn me,
as I have no soul;

you can slay me,
as I have no body;

you can ignore me,
as I am nonexistent.

💔

Omnipotence © Ladansseuse
Transl. "Všemoc", written in 2000

Putative Delight Junkies

In your youth,
no-one has mercy on you;
you are but junkies of a delirious night,
of visions of a lost ideal,
the condemned of putative delight.

Putative Delight Junkies © Ladanseuse
Transl. "Feťáci domnělé slasti", written in 2000, edited in 2021

The Picture of Mute Defiance

NO PEACE WITH MUTENESS
he wrote on the wall glaringly blank
in the color black
with a spray in the hand
in the war of the silent
messengers and rebels,
the downtrodden and the odd,
in too loudly screaming nakedness.

The Picture of Mute Defiance © Ladanseuse
Transl. "Obraz neslyšného vzdoru", excerpted from the poem "Malíř" (Painter) of 2000, edited in 2021

My Soul Unavowed

Water roars wickedly
in an avalanche of colloquies
that torment my soul
in silence.

My Soul Unavowed © Ladanseuse
Transl. "Duše má, zamlčená", written in 1999, edited in 2021

Close to Farness

In the vicinity of the beloved
hatred lies in the distance;
there is just one step to an abyss
in the labyrinth of a silent world.
In the company of the unsuspected
fear hides in questions;
thoughts are too lively,
faster than light.

Close to Farness © Ladanseuse
Transl. "Blízko nedohlednu", written in 1999, edited in 2021

Those Wistful Eyes

  Those eyes
that will no longer see the light,
drowned in tears,
set upon the heavens;
those eyes
downcast, fixedly,
that seek,
that wander;
those eyes
that has been loving for too long
are pining.

Those Wistful Eyes © Ladanseuse
Transl. "Ty oči unylé", written in 1999, edited in 2021

Secret Enchantment

 The existence of certain phenomena
has no explanation,
and yet they are...
like intangible magic
floating in the ether like a beauty 
that will reveal itself
to the most vigorous seeker only.

Secret Enchantment © Ladanseuse

Gone Astray

 As if I roamed on the path of oblivion,
stuck as the world passes away,
like a fool dreaming in the rain
of salvation and condemnation,
chained by pride which is self-humbleness,
asking whether silence is a question 
or the answer 
to what my heart is unaware of.

No muddled rhetoric
will redeem darkness of this tantalizing life
where all the hope is frustrated...

Gone Astray © Ladanseuse

An Allegory

Thus spoke my soul

in the voice allegorical

that only I could hear

as I wove its threads

until an unexpected unravelling.  

An Allegory © Ladanseuse 

Transl. "Jinotaj"

The Inner Cosmos

 It floats like the moon on the waves of my gloom;

it burns like the sun when it sets in the dark;

submerged in the deeps is all 

that has been swallowed by my soul –

words cannot capture it, you shall lose your sanity:

Once the whole world is contained 

within your psyché, 

you will see...

The Inner Cosmos © Ladanseuse

Transl. "Vnitřní vesmír"