Postcards from Paradise: from “A Virgin a Day series ~ Joan of Arc

Vaucouleurs to Chinon, February-March, 1429

"I was born for this."

"Fear not: what I do, I do by commandment.

My brothers in Paradise tell me what I must do."

©2009 nicolas evariste

Domremy, February, 1429

"But since God had commanded me to go, I must do it. And since God had commanded it, had I had a hundred fathers and a hundred mothers,

and had I been a king's daughter, I would have gone."

"It pleased God thus to act through a simple maid in order to turn back the King's enemies."

©2012 Thomas Hawk

The Trial, February-May, 1431

"Had I known the hour and that I would be taken, I should not have wanted to go.

But I would have done their bidding in the end, no matter what was to befall me."

"As to whether victory was my banner's or mine, it was all our Lord's."

"There was neither sorcery or any evil art in anything I have done."

©2009Nicolas Evariste

Joan of Arc

by Leonard Cohen

Now the flames they followed joan of arc
As she came riding through the dark;
No moon to keep her armour bright,
No man to get her through this very smoky night.
She said, I’m tired of the war,
I want the kind of work I had before,
A wedding dress or something white
To wear upon my swollen appetite.

Well, I’m glad to hear you talk this way,
You know I’ve watched you riding every day
And something in me yearns to win
Such a cold and lonesome heroine.
And who are you? she sternly spoke
To the one beneath the smoke.
Why, I’m fire, he replied,
And I love your solitude, I love your pride.

©2009 nicolas evariste

Then fire, make your body cold,
I’m going to give you mine to hold,
Saying this she climbed inside
To be his one, to be his only bride.
And deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of joan of arc,
And high above the wedding guests
He hung the ashes of her wedding dress.

©2010 nicolas evariste  

It was deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of joan of arc,
And then she clearly understood
If he was fire, oh then she must be wood.
I saw her wince, I saw her cry,
I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light,
But must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?

 

infinite universe ©2009 nicolas evariste

 

underwater ©2009 nicolas evariste

"She was truthful when lying was the common speech of men; she was honest when honest was become a lost virtue; she was a keeper of promises when the keeping of a promise was expected of no one; ... she was full of pity when a merciless cruelty was the rule; she was steadfast when stability was unknown, and honorable in an age which had forgotten what honor was; she was a rock of convictions in a time when men believed in nothing and scoffed at all things; she was unfailingly true in an age that was false to the core; ... she was of a dauntless courage when hope and courage had perished in the hearts of her nation..." Mark Twain,Joan of Arc

 

 

About the Photographer

Brenda K. Stumpf

I've been Creative Director for the past 15 years at Prime8 Interactive.

Our work has been featured and/or won awards in publications such as CMYK magazine,

Flash Visual Jumpstart, The One Show, Promax Broadcasting, the Addy's, and How Magazine.

I recently turned my creative attention to photography, with a focus on underwater imagery.

I am currently working on projects both in the US and abroad.

 

Note from Noelle Renee:  Please visit Brenda’s website where you can view more of her incredibly beautiful photos here at www.bstumpf.com

My gracious thanks to her for allowing me to post her phenomenal work here on The Angels Wear Fins.

 

*Note~

Quotes from Joan of Arc are taken from the book Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words. Using only material compiled from her trial transcripts and testimonies, translator Willard Trask arranged her exact words in this unique autobiography. The signature is what remains of her actual historical signature.