Sidereal…

A trace is the apparition of a distance, however close that which it evokes may be. Whereas the aura is the apparition of a nearness, however far away that which left it behind may be.

...

~ Images: Galileo’s sunspot drawings, published in Istoria e Dimostrazioni Intorno Alle Macchie Solari e Loro Accidenti Rome, 1612

~ Text: Walter Benjamin, fragment from the Arcades Project

Écoutants antérieurs ...

In the august sense, to hear is always already to have heard: to take one's place in the assembly of prior listeners {écoutants antérieurs} and thus permit them once again to be present in this enduring hearing {dans l'entente persévérante}.

~ Blanchot

But You, Holy Song ...

Henry Peach Robinson, Seashore and Clouds, albumen print, 1870

Gustave Le Gray, Seashore, Lighthouse, Clouds, Le Havre, albumen print, 1856

Gustave Le Gray, Seashore and Clouds, Sete, albumen print 1857

Carlo Baldessare Simelli, Clouds with Dome, Rome, albumen print, 1860

Adolphe Braun, Gorner Glacier, albumen print, 1863

Gustav Jaegermayer, Pasterze Glacier, albumen print, 1863

Gustav Jaegermayer, Crystal glacier, albumen print, 1863

Gustav Jaegermayer, Pasterze Glacier, albumen print 1863

but you, holy song,

and poor sailor seeking the familiar,

look to the stars,

seacoasts,

the black forest whispers,

the gently gazing mountains,

the crystal-ice, and snow.

...

Friedrich Holderlin, fragment from Hymns and Songs