Leonardo da Vinci “Paragone of Poetry and Painting” Translation
These are my modern English translations of epigrams and poems by Leonardo da Vinci. I suspect da Vinci's “Paragone of Poetry and Painting” may have been aimed like a dart at his greatest rival, Michelangelo!
Excerpts from “Paragone of Poetry and Painting” and Other Writings
by Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1500
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Leonardo da Vinci Translations
These are my modern English translations of epigrams and poems by Leonardo da Vinci. I suspect da Vinci's “Paragone of Poetry and Painting” may have been aimed like a dart at his greatest rival, Michelangelo!
Once we have flown, we will forever walk the earth with our eyes turned heavenward, for there we were and there we will always long to return.—Leonardo da Vinci, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Drops from Keido Fukushima’s “Leaves”
wind and sea—
the leaves we leave
for other generations
little by little—
the leaves line up
to be lifted by the wind
pure sky—
awakened to sound
of single leaf
trees and skies—
the generations grow
from leaf to leaf
running in the wind—
searching for “self”
in the veins of time
water and life—
a drop in the moon’s
midnight reflection
moon and sea—
the life force of Earth’s
wandering expression
step-by-step
across the plots
