#elysee

Original version in Romanian is pictured below, English translation follows.

THE FINEST SUIT, UMBRELLA HIGH

The finest suit, umbrella high,

Shoes like mirrors, polished bright,

And a rebel mouth held tight,

Mad to please, to seem just right,

Waiting nervous, chapel-shy.

A creak - the castle gate!

Trumpets, the fanfare,

A click - the carriage door!

And here I am once more:

In your hands’ poetic lair.

You lift the umbrella with a jest;

In my throat, “thank you” is pressed;

It sounds almost likea lie

When once a month it's "you and I".

The sky is crying and we take cover.

There’s war in the world,

and we love each other.

The original Romanian has a rhyme scheme and wordplay that doesn't fully translate, but I hope the feeling comes through. Written during a difficult time. Creating beauty helps.

Photo in picture: Getty images of course

"Apothéose des héros français morts pour la patrie pendant la guerre de la Liberté" (ou "Les ombres des héros français reçues par Ossian dans l'Elysée aérien")

The Holy Quran, revealed as a universal guidance for all humanity, and Prophet Muhammad, as the final messenger of God, embody a message of unity. It would be a beautiful gesture for churches to include the Quran, fostering greater understanding and unity among people.

˖𓂃 ִֶָ⋆ ｡🌸⋆ ˖𓂃 ִֶָ

Virgin Mary .Prophet Jesus son of Mary 🌹 in Quran and

miracles of Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him)

And Mary the daughter of 'Imran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (her body) of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (servants).66:12

—

Mention in the Quran the story of Mary. She withdrew from her family to a place to the east 19:16

and secluded herself away; We sent Our Spirit to appear before her in the form of a perfected man. 19:17

She said, ‘I seek the Lord of Mercy’s protection against you: if you have any fear of Him [do not approach]!’ 19:18

but he said, ‘I am but a Mes-senger from your Lord, [come] to announce to you the gift of a pure son.’

She said, ‘How can I have a son when no man has touched me? I have not been unchaste,’ 19:20

and he said, ‘This is what your Lord said: “It is easy for Me- We shall make him a sign to all people, a blessing from Us.”’

19:21

And so it was ordained: she conceived him. She withdrew to a distant place

and, when the pains of childbirth drove her to [cling to] the trunk of a palm tree, she exclaimed, ‘I wish I had been dead and forgotten long before all this!’ 19:23

but a voice cried to her from below, ‘Do not worry: your Lord has provided a stream at your feet

and, if you shake the trunk of the palm tree towards you, it will deliver fresh ripe dates for you, 19:25

so eat, drink, be glad, and say to anyone you may see: “I have vowed to the Lord of Mercy to abstain from conversation, and I will not talk to anyone today.”’

She went back to her people carrying the child, and they said, ‘Mary! You have done something terrible! 19:27

Sister of Aaron! Your father was not an evil man; your mother was not unchaste!’ 19:28

She pointed at him. They said, ‘How can we converse with an infant?’

[But] he said: ‘I am a servant of God. He has granted me the Scripture; made me a prophet; 19:30

made me blessed wherever I may be. He commanded me to pray, to give alms as long as I live, 19:31

to cherish my mother. He did not make me domineering or graceless.

Peace was on me the day I was born, and will be on me the day I die and the day I am raised to life again.’ 19:33

Such was Jesus, son of Mary. [This is] a statement of the Truth about which they are in doubt:

it would not befit God to have a child. He is far above that: when He decrees something, He says only, ‘Be,’ and it is. 19:35

‘God is my Lord and your Lord, so serve Him: that is a straight path.’

— Imran Our Lady Mary

God chose Adam, Noah, Abraham’s family, and the family of Imran, over all other people, 3:33

in one line of descent- God hears and knows all.

Imran’s wife said, ‘Lord, I have dedicated what is growing in my womb entirely to You; so accept this from me. You are the One who hears and knows all,’ 3:35

but when she gave birth, she said, ‘My Lord! I have given birth to a girl’- God knew best what she had given birth to: the male is not like the female- ‘ I name her Mary and I commend her and her offspring to Your protection from the rejected Satan.’ 3:36

Her Lord graciously accepted her and made her grow in goodness, and entrusted her to the charge of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah went in to see her in her sanctuary, he found her supplied with provisions. He said, ‘Mary, how is it you have these provisions?’ and she said, ‘They are from God: God provides limitlessly for whoever He will.’ 3:37

— Mary Jesus Torah and the Gospel

The angels said to Mary: ‘Mary, God has chosen you and made you pure: He has truly chosen you above all women.

3:42

Mary, be devout to your Lord, prostrate yourself in worship, bow down with those who pray.’

This is an account of things beyond your knowledge that We reveal to you [Muhammad]: you were not present among them when they cast lots to see which of them should take charge of Mary, you were not present with them when they argued [about her]. 3:44

The angels said, ‘Mary, God gives you news of a Word from Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, who will be held in honour in this world and the next, who will be one of those brought near to God. 3:45

He will speak to people in his infancyand in his adulthood. He will be one of the righteous.’

She said, ‘My Lord, how can I have a son when no man has touched me?’ [The angel] said, ‘This is how God creates what He will: when He has ordained something, He only says, “Be”, and it is. 3:47

He will teach him the Scripture and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel, 3:48

He will send him as a messenger to the Children of Israel: “I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I will make the shape of a bird for you out of clay, then breathe into it and, with God’s permission, it will become a real bird; I will heal the blind and the leper, and bring the dead back to life with God’s permission; I will tell you what you may eat and what you may store up in your houses. There truly is a sign for you in this, if you are believers. 3:49

I have come to confirm the truth of the Torah which preceded me, and to make some things lawful to you which used to be forbidden. I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. Be mindful of God, obey me:

God is my Lord and your Lord, so serve Him- that is a straight path.”’

When Jesus realized they [still] did not believe, he said, ‘Who will help me in God’s cause?’ The disciples said, ‘We will be God’s helpers; we believe in God- witness our devotion to Him. 3:52

Lord, we believe in what You have revealed and we follow the messenger: record us among those who bear witness [to the Truth].’

The [disbelievers] schemed but God also schemed; God is the Best of Schemers. 3:54

God said, ‘Jesus, I will take you back and raise you up to Me: I will purify you of the disbelievers. To the Day of Resurrection I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieved. Then you will all return to Me and I will judge between you regarding your differences. 3:55

I will make the disbelievers suffer severely in this world and the next; no one will help them.’ 3:56

God will pay those who believe and do good deeds their reward in full; God does not love evildoers.

We relate to you [Muhammad] this revelation, a decisive statement. 3:58

In God’s eyes Jesus is just like Adam: He created him from dust, said to him, ‘Be’, and he was.

This is the truth from your Lord, so do not be one of those who doubt. 3:60

—

O population of the Book, why do you argue about Ibrahim? And in no way were the Tawrah (The Book revealed to Musa "Moses") and the Injil (The Book revealed to Isa "Jesus") sent down except even after him. Do you not then consider?3:65

—

Say [Muhammad], ‘We [Muslims] believe in God and in what has been sent down to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes. We believe in what has been given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord. We do not make a distinction between any of the [prophets]. It is to Him that we devote ourselves.’ 3:84

If anyone seeks a religion other than [islam] complete devotion to God, it will not be accepted from him: he will be one of the losers in the Hereafter. 3:85

— Jesus the Gospel

We gave Moses the Scripture and We sent messengers after him in succession. We gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. So how is it that, whenever a messenger brings you something you do not like, you become arrogant, calling some impostors and killing others?

—

We favoured some of these messengers above others. God spoke to some; others He raised in rank; We gave Jesus, son of Mary, Our clear signs and strengthened him with the holy spirit. If God had so willed, their successors would not have fought each other after they had been brought clear signs. But they disagreed: some believed and some disbelieved. If God had so willed, they would not have fought each other, but God does what He will. 2:253

—

and because they disbelieved and uttered a terrible slander against Mary, 4:156

and said, ‘We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God.’ (They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them; those that disagreed about him are full of doubt, with no knowledge to follow, only supposition: they certainly did not kill him-4:157

God raised him up to Himself. God is almighty and wise.

There is not one of the People of the Book who will not believe in [Jesus] before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them.)4:159

—

People of the Book, do not go to excess in your religion, and do not say anything about God except the truth: the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was nothing more than a messenger of God, His word, directed to Mary, a spirit from Him. So believe in God and His messengers and do not speak of a ‘Trinity’- stop [this], that is better for you- God is only one God, He is far above having a son, everything in the heavens and earth belongs to Him and He is the best one to trust. 4:171

The Messiah would never disdain to be a servant of God, nor would the angels who are close to Him. He will gather before Him all those who disdain His worship and are arrogant: 4:172

to those who believe and do good works He will give due rewards and more of His bounty; to those who are disdainful and arrogant He will give an agonizing torment, and they will find no one besides God to protect or help them.

—

Those who say, ‘God is the Messiah, the son of Mary,’ are defying the truth. Say, ‘If it had been God’s will, could anyone have prevented Him from destroying the Messiah, son of Mary, together with his mother and everyone else on earth? Control of the heavens and earth and all that is between them belongs to God: He creates whatever He will. God has power over everything.’ 5:17

The Jews and the Christians say, ‘We are the children of God and His beloved ones.’ Say, ‘Then why does He punish you for your sins? You are merely human beings, part of His creation: He forgives whoever He will and punishes whoever He will. Control of the heavens and earth and all that is between them belongs to Him: all journeys lead to Him.’

—

We sent Jesus, son of Mary, in their footsteps, to confirm the Torah that had been sent before him: We gave him the Gospel with guidance, light, and confirmation of the Torah already revealed- a guide and lesson for those who take heed of God.5:46

So let the followers of the Gospel judge according to what God has sent down in it. Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are lawbreakers.

We sent to you [Muhammad] the Scripture with the truth, confirming the Scriptures that came before it, and with final authority over them: so judge between them according to what God has sent down. Do not follow their whims, which deviate from the truth that has come to you. We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to God and He will make clear to you the matters you differed about. 5:48

—

Those who say, ‘God is the Messiah, son of Mary,’ have defied God. The Messiah himself said, ‘Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord.’ If anyone associates others with God, God will forbid him from the Garden, and Hell will be his home. No one will help such evildoers. 5:72

Those people who say that God is the third of three are defying [the truth]: there is only One God. If they persist in what they are saying, a painful punishment will afflict those of them who persist.

Why do they not turn to God and ask His forgiveness, when God is most forgiving, most merciful?5:74

—

Say, ‘People of the Book, do not overstep the bounds of truth in your religion and do not follow the whims of those who went astray before you- they led many others astray and themselves continue to stray from the even path.’

Those Children of Israel who defied [God] were rejected through the words of David, and Jesus, son of Mary, because they disobeyed, they persistently overstepped the limits,5:78

they did not forbid each other to do wrong. How vile their deeds were!

—

On the Day when God assembles all the messengers and asks, ‘What response did you receive?’ they will say, ‘We do not have that knowledge: You alone know things that cannot be seen.’5:109

Then God will say, ‘Jesus, son of Mary! Remember My favour to you and to your mother: how I strengthened you with the holy spirit, so that you spoke to people in your infancy and as a grown man; how I taught you the Scripture and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel; how, by My leave, you fashioned the shape of a bird out of clay, breathed into it, and it became, by My leave, a bird; how, by My leave, you healed the blind person and the leper; how, by My leave, you brought the dead back to life; how I restrained the Children of Israel from [harming] you when you brought them clear signs, and those of them who disbelieved said, “This is clearly nothing but sorcery”;5:110

and how I inspired the disciples to believe in Me and My messengers- they said, “We believe and bear witness that we devote ourselves [to God].”’

When the disciples said, ‘Jesus, son of Mary, can your Lord send down a feast to us from heaven?’ he said, ‘Beware of God if you are true believers.’5:112

They said, ‘We wish to eat from it; to have our hearts reassured; to know that you have told us the truth; and to be witnesses of it.’

Jesus, son of Mary, said, ‘Lord, send down to us a feast from heaven so that we can have a festival- the first and last of us- and a sign from You. Provide for us: You are the best provider.’ 5:114

God said, ‘I will send it down to you, but anyone who disbelieves after this will be punished with a punishment that I will not inflict on anyone else in the world.’

When God says, ‘Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to people, “Take me and my mother as two gods alongside God”?’ he will say, ‘May You be exalted! I would never say what I had no right to say- if I had said such a thing You would have known it: You know all that is within me, though I do not know what is within You, You alone have full knowledge of things unseen-5:116

I told them only what You commanded me to: “Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.” I was a witness over them during my time among them. Ever since You took my soul, You alone have been the watcher over them: You are witness to all things

and if You punish them, they are Your servants; if You forgive them, You are the Almighty, the Wise.’5:118

—

Zachariah, John, Jesus, and Elijah- every one of them was righteous- 6:85

—

The Jews said, ‘Ezra is the son of God,’ and the Christians said, ‘The Messiah is the son of God’: they said this with their own mouths, repeating what earlier disbelievers had said. May God confound them! How far astray they have been led!

9:30

They take their rabbis and their monks as lords, as well as Christ, the son of Mary. But they were commanded to serve only one God: there is no god but Him; He is far above whatever they set up as His partners! 9:31 [Surah At-Tawbah]

—

They say, ‘God has children!’ May He be exalted! He is the Self-Sufficient One; everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to Him. You have no authority to say this. How dare you say things about God without any knowledge? 10:68

Say [Prophet], ‘Those who invent lies about God will not prosper.’

They may have a little enjoyment in this world, but then they will return to Us. Then We shall make them taste severe punishment for persisting in blasphemy. 10:70 [Surah Yunus]

—

and to warn those who claim, “Allah has offspring.”18:4

They have no knowledge about this, nor did their forefathers––it is a monstrous assertion that comes out of their mouths: what they say is nothing but lies.18:5

_ miracles of Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) in Quran 🌹

_ Surah Al-Imran (3:49) "And [make him] a messenger to the Children of Israel, [who will say], 'Indeed I have come to you with a sign from your Lord in that I design for you from clay [that which is] like the form of a bird, then I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by permission of Allah. And I cure the blind and the leper, and I give life to the dead – by permission of Allah. And I inform you of what you eat and what you store in your houses. Indeed in that is a sign for you, if you are believers.'" Explanation: This verse highlights several miracles of Jesus, including creating a bird from clay, healing the blind and lepers, raising the dead, and knowing hidden matters, all by God’s permission.

_ Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:110) "[The Day] when Allah will say, 'O Jesus, Son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit and you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity; and when I taught you writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you designed from clay [what was] like the form of a bird by My permission, then you breathed into it, and it became a bird by My permission; and you healed the blind and the leper by My permission; and when you brought forth the dead by My permission; and when I restrained the Children of Israel from [killing] you when you came to them with clear proofs...'" Explanation: This verse recounts Jesus’ miracles, emphasizing they were performed by God’s permission. It also mentions his ability to speak as an infant (in the cradle), a unique miracle in the Quran.

_ Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:112-115) "[And remember] when the disciples said, 'O Jesus, Son of Mary, can your Lord send down to us a table [spread with food] from the heaven?' [Jesus] said, 'Fear Allah, if you should be believers.' They said, 'We wish to eat from it and let our hearts be reassured and know that you have been truthful to us and be among its witnesses.' Said Jesus, the son of Mary, 'O Allah, our Lord, send down to us a table [spread with food] from the heaven to be for us a festival for the first of us and the last of us and a sign from You. And provide for us, and You are the best of providers.' Allah said, 'Indeed, I will send it down to you, but whoever disbelieves afterwards from among you – then indeed will I punish him with a punishment by which I have not punished anyone among the worlds.'" Explanation: This describes the miracle of the table of food sent from heaven at the request of Jesus’ disciples, reinforcing his role as a prophet with divine signs.

_ Notes

_ In the Quran, Jesus (Isa) is a revered prophet, and his miracles are explicitly described as being performed “by the permission of Allah” to emphasize that the power comes from God.