Cradles - René-François Sully-Prudhomme

Moored at the quay, the great vessels
That quietly bend to the swell,
Pay no regard to the cradles
Rocked by feminine hands.

De Spectaculis.V (That Pasiphae was mated to the Dictaean bull) - Marcus Valerius Martialis

That Pasiphae¹ was mated to the Dictaean bull², believe:
we have seen it,

The Princess - Björnstjerne Björnson

The princess sat lone in her maiden bower,
The lad blew his horn at the foot of the tower.
“Why playest thou alway? Be silent, I pray,
It fetters my thoughts that would flee far away,
          As the sun goes down.”

Trinity - Adam of St. Victor

To the Trine God, not Gods three,
       The Trinity in Unity,
Let the Church now bow the knee!
       All creation
       Indication,
Clear and lucid, gives of a Trinity.

Love the runaway - Meleager of Gadara

I make hue and cry after wild Love;
for now, even now in the morning dusk,
he flew away from his bed and was gone.

The Land of Story-books - Robert Louis Stevenson

At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.

The Vowels: An Enigma - Jonathan Swift

We are little airy creatures,
All of different voice and features;

The Djinns - Victor Hugo

              Town, tower,
              Shore, deep,
              Where lower
              Cliffs steep;
              Waves gray,
              Where play
              Winds gay,—
              All sleep.

Time’s Revenge - Agathias Scholasticus

She, who but late in beauty’s flower was seen,
Proud of her auburn curls and noble mien—

The cherubic pilgrim - Johann Scheffler

The soul wherein God dwells, —
What church could holier be? —
Becomes a walking tent
Of heavenly majesty.

The Welcome - Farīd ud-Dīn ʿAṭṭār

One night Shah Mahmúd, who had been of late
Somewhat distempered with Affairs of State,
Strolled through the Streets disguised, as wont to do—
And coming to the Baths, there on the Flue
Saw the poor Fellow who the Furnace fed
Sitting beside his Water-jug and Bread.

The Children’s Church - Karl von Gerock

The bells of the churches are ringing,—
  Papa and mamma have both gone,—
And three little children sit singing
  Together this still Sunday morn.

Kumudvati's wedding - Kālidāsa

I have no king; my towers and terraces
Crumble and fall; my walls are overthrown;
As when the ugly winds of evening seize
The rack of clouds in helpless darkness blown.

Frithiof Saga, Canto XI: Frithiof at the Court of Angantyr - Esaias Tegnér

’Tis time to tell how Angantyr,
  The earl, was seated then
High in his hall of stately fir,
  Carousing with his men.
Thence he surveyed, in merry mood,
  The day-car as it rolled;
Now cleaving through the purple flood,
  All like a swan of gold.

At the wood's edge - Eduard Mörike

At the wood's edge I can lie for long afternoons
In the grass listening to the cuckoo;
It seems to lull the whole valley to sleep
With peaceful harmony of its laments.

O spotless King - Pope Urban V

O spotless King, sweet Jesus,
For me, a sinner, slain,
Grant we may raise eternal praise
To thy eternal reign.

The Lament of Maisun, the Bedouin wife of Mu‘āwiya - Maysun bint Bahdal

I give thee all the treacherous brightness
Of glittering robes which grace the fair,
Then give me back my young heart's lightness
And simple vest of Camel's hair.

Intoxication - Li Bai

What is life, after all, but a dream,
And why should such pother be made?
Better far to be tipsy, I deem,
And doze all day long in the shade.

The Soldier - Nikolai Nekrasov

Then up there comes a veteran.
With medals on his breast;
He scarcely lives, but yet he strives
To drink with all the rest.

from The Twelfth Assembly (Of Damsacus) - Al Hariri

I cling to journeying, I cross deserts, I loathe pride that I may cull
joy:

And I plunge into floods, and tame steeds that I may draw the trains
of pleasure and delight.

Yesterday we dreamed - Michael Theophilus Dom

It was not so long ago
Hardly more than a lifetime or so
When our nation was so young
And our history had just begun.

The month of Jyeshtha (May/June) - Keshava Dasa

Air, water, ether, earth and fire —
all these five elements become one:

Birżebbuġa 2014 - Immanuel Mifsud

I undo my laces; let everything fall.
You quickly close your eyes or look somewhere afar.
Somewhere out through the window
strange images drift by
like boats midsea, rolling, heavy with cries
of tall men who have never seen such waters before;
women in their eighth month, navels pointing ashore;
children silenced, whining babies; droplets of milk left — no more.