Turning to God - Pietro Bembo

If, gracious God, in life’s green ardent year,
A thousand times thy patient love I tried;
With reckless heart, with conscience hard and sear,
Thy gifts perverted, and thy power defied!

To his Friend in Elysium - Joachim du Bellay

So long you wandered on the dusky plain,
Where flit the shadows with their endless cry,
You reach the shore where all the world goes by,
You leave the strife, the slavery, the pain;

Lekha Dodi - Solomon ha-Levi Alkabetz

Chorus:
Come, my friend, to meet the bride; 
let us welcome the Sabbath.

“Ob​serve” and “Rememb​er,” in a single command, 
the One God announced​ to us. 
The Lord is One, and his name is One, 
for fame,​ for glory and for praise.

Oh that I might capture the essence - Hwang Jini

Oh that I might capture the essence of this deep midwinter night

Lament V - Jan Kochanowski

Just as a little olive offshoot grows
Beneath its orchard elders’ shady rows,
No budding leaf as yet, no branching limb,
Only a rod uprising, virgin-slim —

Sonnet - Francisco de Sá de Miranda

I know not, lady, by what nameless charm 
Those looks, that voice, that smile, have each the power 
Of kindling loftier thoughts, and feelings more 

Lament VI - Jan Kochanowski

Dear little Slavic Sappho, we had thought,
Hearing thy songs so sweetly, deftly wrought,
That thou shouldst have an heritage one day
Beyond thy father’s lands: his lute to play.

Opinions no Pinions - Lâmiî Çelebi

Oh,—show—no vain triumph o’er thy neighbors!
They—may—lay snares for thy shameful fall:

The Valley Song - Gil Vicente

My lady now no more takes pleasure 

privily with me perpending — 

Alack for pains that are unending!

Faith is a living pow’r from Heav’n - Petrus Herbertus

Faith is a living pow’r from Heav’n

That grasps the promise God hath giv’n,

A trust that cannot be o’erthrown,

Fixed heartily on Christ alone.

The Lusiad (extract from Book II: Arrival at Mombasa) - Luís Vas de Camões

The fervent lustre of the evening ray

Behind the western hills now died away,

And night, ascending from the dim-brow'd east,

The twilight gloom with deeper shades increas'd,

When Gama heard the creaking of the oar,

And mark'd the white waves length'ning from the shore.

The life above, the life on high - St Teresa of Ávila

The life above, the life on high, 

Alone is life in verity; 

Nor can we life at all enjoy 

Till this poor life is o'er. 

O spirit pure - António Ferreira

O spirit pure, purer in realms above 

Than whilst thou tarriedst in this vale of pain, 

Why hast thou treated me with cold disdain. 

Nor, as thou ought'st, returned my faithful love?

On Spring - Lâmiî Çelebi

From the pleasure, joy, and rapture of this hour,

In its frame to hold its soul earth scarce hath power.

Rent its collar, like the dawning, hath the rose;

From its heart the nightingale sighs forth its woes.

Night settles on this mountain village - Ch'ŏn'gum

Night settles on this mountain village;

a dog barks way over there.

The Eleventh Sonnet to Beauty - Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero

O ripe bosom white that steadily before mine eyes

So dearly drifts, like the clear reflection

At the source of the Rhine of the purest snow —

Ah but your shimmering, o weak eyes doth impair!

Lament IV - Jan Kochanowski

Thou hast constrained mine eyes, unholy Death,

To watch my dear child breathe her dying breath:

To watch thee shake the fruit unripe and clinging

While fear and grief her parents' hearts were wringing.

The Lusiad (extract from Book I: Sailing to Mombasa) - Luís Vas de Camões

Between the isle and Ethiopia's land

A narrow current laves each adverse strand;

Close by the margin where the green tide flows,

Full to the bay a lordly city rose;

Sonnet XXIV: Do not reproach me, ladies - Louise Labé

Do not reproach me, ladies, if I’ve loved,

if I have felt a thousand torches’ fires,

a thousand ills, a thousand fierce desires,

Lament III - Jan Kochanowski

So, thou hast scorned me, my delight and heir;

Thy father's halls, then, were not broad and fair

Enough for thee to dwell here longer, sweet.