Cursed Canaan

Frank Frazetta: Castle of Sin

Genesis 9:1: And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:2: And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

Genesis 9:3: Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Genesis 9:4: But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Genesis 9:5: And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

Genesis 9:6: Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Genesis 9:7: And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

Genesis 9:8: And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

Genesis 9:9: And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

Genesis 9:10: And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

Genesis 9:11: And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Genesis 9:12: And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

Genesis 9:13: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:14: And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

Genesis 9:15: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Genesis 9:16: And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 9:17: And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 9:18: And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

Genesis 9:19: These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

Genesis 9:20: And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

Genesis 9:21: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Genesis 9:22: And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Genesis 9:23: And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Genesis 9:24: And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

Genesis 9:25: And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Genesis 9:26: And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Genesis 9:27: God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Genesis 9:28: And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

Genesis 9:29: And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

The stars have faded

Edward Robert Hughes: The Valkyrie's Vigil

You've lost this heart

While chasing after a mirage

You've betrayed this heart

And I can do nothing but hate you

Can you hear my pain?

Your voice dies

And stupid as I am, I wait for you forever

Forget

or live no longer

or, then, only the night, the night, the night!

The stars have faded

With the pale moon beam

Love cries

That rushes forward like a wave

Then disappears

The night is empty

And the hope it brings is brief

Bitter tears fall

A broken heart, despairing

passes by...

What has happened to the empty dreams?

Where have the brief temptations gone?

Wings of steel, take me there...

Boris Vallejo: Golden Wings

I ride the winds that howl

And bring down the rain

Thunder and lightning strikes

Across the desert plains

I ride alone at night

On my white winged horse

As the roaring sounds come from

The heavens above

Take me through into the night

Guide my way with your bright light

My source of life is in your eyes

Worshipped by millions of lonely cries

Wings of Steel, Take me higher

Take me to the clouds

Where the lightning strikes

And the thunder roar is loud

Wings of Steel, Take me there

So I can be set free

To fly across the universe

To seek my Destiny

A loud thunder crack

From the heavens above

Sends me and my horse

Plummeting towards the earth

We regain our course and fly

Away from the storm

But it's still racing upon us

With great ferocious force

We escape and reach the ancient

City of Cairo

A sacred place in Egypt

The land of the Pharaohs

But again the thunder breaks

Above these grey clouds

An electric storm of fire

Strikes from the Egyptian Gods

Wings of Steel, Take me higher

Take me to the clouds

Where the lightning strikes

And the thunder roar is loud

Wings of Steel, Take me there

So I can be set free

To fly across the universe

To seek my Destiny

Wings of Steel - Set me free...

I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore

Philip Calderon - A Woodland Nymph 1883

Standing in the rain

The cold and angry rain

In a long white dress

A girl without a name

She stood beneath the light

Glowing like a candle bright

I guess it doesn't matter anymore

I pulled along the side

And offered her a ride

Like the rolling mist she floated inside

As we pulled away

She had nothing to say

So I guess it doesn't matter anymore

I believe something's can't be explained

They are hidden in the mist and in the silver rain...

The road was long

It ran on

When I heard her singing her silent song

I knew the melody

From my memory

But I guess it Doesn't Matter Anymore

Finally she spoke

Come pull off the road

Saying she was headin' home

I turned and she was gone

I was all alone

So I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore

As I turned away

No reason to stay

She had faded back into the grey

A whisper in the trees

You could hear it in the breeze

Say I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore

The knight

Sidney Meteyard: St. George and the dragon

No love for useless talk

Nor sleep or excess pleasure

He lives to train, enduring pain

His master's word, his measure

Early morning sunrise finds him

on the fencing grounds

Pursuing quick precision

until mastery is found

And those who ride

Must follow in the way

Of the Knight and Nobleman

For those who fight

Have already layed down their lives

He knows no will but sovereignty

His honor knows no price

His heart is love and loyalty

His body knows no vice

Ready as the dawn breaks

or as even fades to night

His heart prepared for battle

And his hands, prepared to fight

And those who ride

Must follow in the way

Of the Knight and Nobleman

For those who fight

Have already layed down their lives 

Meet me on the battlefield

Herbert Thomas Dicksee - After chevy chase

On the battlefield slain, ours sons of Erin

Through the battlefield's pain, our sons of Erin

The earth will bleed the blood of your king

To a river carved deep by the sword of a Fiann

For our freedom this our plight

This land of life and dreams

Regal martinets march

To rot us at the seams

Course their warships towards the shore

Prepare tools of death

Await the dawn

Vigilant stalk as the waves draw them near

For our freedom this our plight

This land of life and dreams

Regal martinets march

To rot us at the seams

 Meet me on the battlefield

My sons of Erin

So many times has our soil been drenched in blood

So many lives has this blood drenched soil engulfed

 For the freedom this our plight

This land of life and dreams

 Meet me on the battlefield

(old season - meet me on the battlefield)

Live by the sword - Die by the sword

Justin Sweet: Conan the Cimmerian

...........

There, where death's brief pang was quickest,

And the battle's wreck lay thickest,

Strewed beneath the advancing banner

Of the eagle's burning crest—

(There with thunder-clouds to fan her,

Who could then her wing arrest—

Victory beaming from her breast?)

While the broken line enlarging

Fell, or fled along the plain;

There be sure was Murat charging!

There he ne'er shall charge again!

O'er glories gone the invaders march,

Weeps Triumph o'er each levelled arch—

But let Freedom rejoice,

With her heart in her voice;

But, her hand on her sword,

Doubly shall she be adored;

........

(From "Ode From The French" by George Gordon, Lord Byron)

(Sword - Children of Heaven)

Race of Cain

Valentine Cameron Prinsep: A Venetian Gaming House in the Sixteenth Century

(Charles Baudelaire's Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil - Abel and Cain)

(Translation - Roy Campbell)

Race of Abel! eat, sleep, drink. 

God smiles on those that he prefers. 

Race of Cain!in swamps that stink, 

Crawl, and die the death of curs. 

Race of Abel! your crops sprout, 

And your flocks are safe and sound. 

Race of Cain! your guts howl out 

In hunger, like an ancient hound. 

Race of Abel! warm your guts 

At the patriarchal fire. 

Race of Cain! in caves and huts 

Shiver like jackals in the mire. 

Race of Abel! Pullulate : 

Your gold too procreates its kind. 

Race of Cain! Hearts hot with hate, 

Leave all such appetites behind. 

Race of Abel! grow and graze, 

Like woodlice that on timbers prey. 

Race of Cain! along rough ways 

Lead forth your family at bay.

Ah! Race of Abel! your fat carrion 

Will well manure the soil it presses. 

Race of Cain! One task to carry on 

Remains for you, a task that presses. 

Race of Abel! Shame is nigh. 

The coulter's beaten by the sword. 

Race of Cain, climb up the sky, 

And to the earth hurl down the Lord.

Paint it black

Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Giotto Painting the Portrait of Dante

I see my red door and I want it painted black

No colors anymore I want them to turn black

I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black

With flowers and my love both never to come back

I see people turn their heads and quickly look away

Like a new born baby it just happens every day

I look inside myself and see my heart is black

I see my red door, I must have it painted black

Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts

It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue

I could not foresee this thing happening to you

If I look hard enough into the settin' sun

My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes

I see a red door and I want it painted black

No colors anymore I want them to turn black

I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I wanna see your face, painted black

Black as night, black as coal

I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky

I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

But who, alas! can love, and then be wise?

Francesco Hayez : The Kiss

(George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron: Don Juan)

'T was on the sixth of June, about the hour

   Of half-past six --- perhaps still nearer seven ---

When Julia sate within as pretty a bower

   As e'er held houri in that heathenish heaven

Described by Mahomet, and Anacreon Moore,

   To whom the lyre and laurels have been given, 

With all the trophies of triumphant song ---

He won them well, and may he wear them long!

She sate but not alone; I know not well

   How this same interview had taken place,

And even if I knew, I should not tell ---

   People should hold their tongues in any case;

No matter how or why the thing befell,

   But there were she and Juan, face to face ---

When two such faces are so, 't would be wise, 

But very difficult, to shut their eyes.

How beautiful she look'd! her conscious heart 

   Glow'd in her cheek, and yet she felt no wrong.

Oh Love! how perfect is thy mystic art,

   Strengthening the weak, and trampling on the strong,

How self-deceitful is the sagest part

    Of mortals whom thy lure hath led along ---

The precipice she stood on was immense,

So was her creed in her own innocence.

She thought of her own strength, and Juan's youth,

   And of the folly of all prudish fears,

Victorious virtue, and domestic truth,

   And then of Don Alfonso's fifty years:

I wish these last had not occurr'd, in sooth,

   Because that number rarely much endears,

And through all climes, the snowy and the sunny,

Sounds ill in love, whate'er it may in money.

When people say, "I've told you fifty times,"

   They mean to scold, and very often do;

When poets say, "I've written fifty rhymes,"

   They make you dread that they 'II recite them too;

In gangs of fifty, thieves commit their crimes;

   At fifty love for love is rare, 't is true,

But then, no doubt, it equally as true is,

A good deal may be bought for fifty Louis.

Julia had honour, virtue, truth, and love,

   For Don Alfonso; and she inly swore,

By all the vows below to powers above,

   She never would disgrace the ring she wore,

Nor leave a wish which wisdom might reprove;

   And while she ponder'd this, besides much more,

One hand on Juan's carelessly was thrown,

Quite by mistake --- she thought it was her own;

Unconsciously she lean'd upon the other,

   Which play'd within the tangles of her hair:

And to contend with thoughts she could not smother

   She seem'd by the distraction of her air.

'T was surely very wrong in Juan's mother

   To leave together this imprudent pair,

She who for many years had watch'd her son so ---

I'm very certain mine would not have done so.

The hand which still held Juan's, by degrees

   Gently, but palpably confirm'd its grasp,

As if it said, "Detain me, if you please;"

   Yet there 's no doubt she only meant to clasp

His fingers with a pure Platonic squeeze:

   She would have shrunk as from a toad, or asp,

Had she imagined such a thing could rouse

A feeling dangerous to a prudent spouse.

I cannot know what Juan thought of this,

   But what he did, is much what you would do;

His young lip thank'd it with a grateful kiss,

   And then, abash'd at its own joy, withdrew

In deep despair, lest he had done amiss, ---

   Love is so very timid when 't is new:

She blush'd, and frown'd not, but she strove to speak,

And held her tongue, her voice was grown so weak.

The sun set, and up rose the yellow moon:

   The devil 's in the moon for mischief; they

Who call'd her chaste, methinks, began too soon

   Their nomenclature; there is not a day,

The longest, not the twenty-first of June,

   Sees half the business in a wicked way

On which three single hours of moonshine smile ---

And then she looks so modest all the while.

There is a dangerous silence in that hour,

   A stillness, which leaves room for the full soul

To open all itself, without the power

   Of calling wholly back its self-control;

The silver light which, hallowing tree and tower,

   Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole,

Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws

A loving languor, which is not repose.

And Julia sate with Juan, half embraced

   And half retiring from the glowing arm,

Which trembled like the bosom where 't was placed;

   Yet still she must have thought there was no harm,

Or else 't were easy to withdraw her waist;

   But then the situation had its charm,

And then --- God knows what next --- I can't go on;

I'm almost sorry that I e'er begun.

Oh Plato! Plato! you have paved the way,

    With your confounded fantasies, to more

Immoral conduct by the fancied sway

    Your system feigns o'er the controulless core

Of human hearts, than all the long array

    Of poets and romancers: --- You 're a bore,

A charlatan, a coxcomb --- and have been,

At best, no better than a go-between.

And Julia's voice was lost, except in sighs,

   Until too late for useful conversation;

The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes,

   I wish indeed they had not had occasion,

But who, alas! can love, and then be wise?

   Not that remorse did not oppose temptation;

A little still she strove, and much repented,

 And whispering "I will never consent" --- consented.

(Silver Mountain - Romeo and Juliet)

Ford Madox Brown: Romeo and Juliet

        Ford Madox Brown: The Finding of Don Juan by Haidee (detail)