Black roses - Ernst Josephson

Tell me, why are you so sad today?
You have always been so merry and gay!

You Have to Fear the Rose - Rafal Wojaczek

You have to fear the rose; it is the mouth
of the wound that bleeds continually inside you.

The Coronation - John O’Donohue

It was a long time ago in another land.
Who could tell how it really was before belief
Came towards you with a hunger that could not see you
Except against white air cleansed of the shadow of earth?

A path in the woods - Anna Kamienska

I don’t trust the truth of memories
because what leaves us
departs forever

Melody - Rabbe Enckell

A bird’s warble flies
like a swivel-bait cast over waves.

The Lover - Solveig von Schoultz

My eyes want to kiss your face.
I have no power over my eyes.

La Chanson du Mal-Aimé - Guillaume Apollinaire

To Paul Léautaud
I was singing this refrain
in nineteen three, not knowing my
love and phoenix were the same,
and if they fled the evening sky
they were reborn when morning came.

One night of London fog and flame
a ne'er do well resembling my
love was passing: up he came
and showed me such a knowing eye
it made me lower mine in shame.

Those Who Carry - Anna Kamienska

Those who carry pianos
to the tenth floor wardrobes and coffins

Prague: The Golden City - Michel Galiana

Songs of gold, songs of blood used to lull your children:
A captive with his lute overpowered a fortress,
A man ever fighting in spite of his blindness,
A prophet whose cause was pleaded by martyrdom.

Growth - Nora May French

I twine you, little trellis, close and fond,
       And swing in wistful threads above, beyond,
For air and space to bloom. Be it so.
Ah me!  I love you, but the plant must grow.

Miguel - Cesar Vallejo

I'm sitting here on the old patio
beside your absence. It is a black well.

Among us all - Charles Pierre Baudelaire

It is essential to be drunk all the time.
That’s all: there’s no other problem.

The Light Gatherer - Carol Ann Duffy

When you were small, your cupped palms
each held a candleworth under the skin, enough light to begin,
                                and as you grew,
light gathered in you, two clear raindrops
in your eyes,
                               warm pearls, shy,
in the lobes of your ears, even always
the light of a smile after your tears.

SINGER(TM) - Joumana-Jo Haddad

Could it be that the old sewing

machine

my mother gave me

would finally come in handy?

Grape Vine - Hale Tsehlana

I heard from the grapevine
that your mother is a witch.
they say this was not a natural death
This man was bewitched.

Winter song - Juan Ramón Jimenez

They sing. They sing.
Where do the birds sing, the birds that sing?

The Leaden Echo (from Maidens’ song from St. Winefred’s Well) - Gerard Manley Hopkins

How to kéep—is there ány any, is there none such, nowhere known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, láce, latch or catch or key to keep
Back beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty, … from vanishing away?

The Violet - Ludvig Holstein

Sweet flower mine! My little bird!
I see you from my lonely shade.

Nicaea - Gerhard Fritsch

From the Council the Creed.
From the Emperors the wall.
From the Seljuks tiled mosques.

Three Professors - Ludwig Fulda

The first professor split a hair
And lectured as it withered there.

Albert And His Savings - Marriott Edgar

One day, little Albert Ramsbottom
To see 'ow much money 'e'd got
Stuck a knife in 'is money-box slot 'ole
And fiddled and fished out the lot.

The Storm - Anais Nin

In the country, the trees bend
Under the weight of the rain
That is falling in huge drops, under the name cheater,

Swimming Ool - Kenn Nesbitt

Swimming in the swimming pool
is where I like to “B,”

That pastry and coffee house in Como - Giampiero Neri

That pastry and coffee house in Como
the teenager actress, hope of our theatre,
had often patronized,

Christ Has No Body - St Teresa of Ávila

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,