When night draws on - al-Khansāʾ

When night draws on, remembering keeps me wakeful 
And hinders my rest with grief upon grief returning 
For Ṣakhr. What a man was he on the day of battle, 
When, snatching their chance, they swiftly exchange the spear-thrusts! 

Penitence - Andrew of Crete

Whence shall my tears begin?
What first-fruits shall I bear
Of earnest sorrow for my sin?
Or how my woes declare?
O thou! the Merciful and Gracious One!
Forgive the foul transgressions I have done.

Answer to a Reproach for Drunkenness - Caliph Yazid I

Must, then, my failings from the shaft

Of anger ne'er escape ? 

And dost thou storm because I've quaffed

The water of the grape?

Abe no Nakamaro - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

When I look abroad

O'er the wide-stretched "Plain of Heaven,"

Lao-Tze - Anonymous

1.
Back in the depths of ancient time;
Remote, before the Tis began;
Four equal sides denned the earth,

Coarse the rush-mat roof - Tenchi Tenno

Coarse the rush-mat roof

Sheltering the harvest-hut

Lament for my Brother - al-Khansāʾ

What have we done to you, death

that you treat us so,

with always another catch

one day a warrior

the next a head of state;

Lo, the signs of our Lord are everlasting - Umayyah ibn Abī aṣ-Ṣalt

Lo, the signs of our Lord are everlasting,

None disputes them except the unbeliever.

Ode to Dubh-Ghiolla, the Shield of Aodh - Dallán Forgaill

Bright as the speckled salmon of the wave! 

Dubh-Ghiolla! panic of the banded brave; 

To My Father - Yazid I

Must then my failings from the shaft

Of anger ne'er escape?

And dost thou storm because I've quaff'd

The water of the grape?

A Great and Mighty Wonder - Germanus of Constantinople

 A great and mighty wonder,

a glorious mystery:

a virgin bears an infant

who veils his deity.

Hymn for Tabernacles - Eleazar ben Jacob Kalir

Thy praise, O Lord! will I proclaim 

In hymns unto thy glorious name. 

O thou Redeemer, Lord and King, 

Redemption to thy faithful bring! 

While You Decline To Cry - Ō no Yasumaro

While you decline to cry,

high on the mountainside

a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.

Genesis Book III - Cædmon

The day departed,
hasting over the dwellings of earth.
And after the gleaming light the Lord, our maker,
thrust on the first of evenings.

On Climbing Mount Song Near the Southern Capital - Xuanzang

A lonely peak
Tapers its way
To a summit
Cut off in the clouds
Thousands of feet above

Verses addressed to a kindred tribe - Alfadhel ibn Alabas

Why thus to passion give the rein?
Why seek your kindred tribe to wrong?
Why strive to drag to light again
The fatal feud entomb 'd so long?

Ah! the foot-drawn trail - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

Ah! the foot-drawn trail
Of the mountain-pheasant's tail

The Court of Dreams - Sung Chih-Wên

Rain from the mountains of Ki-Sho
Fled swiftly with a tearing breeze;

Temper - Nahegat Ben Jaid

Yes, Leila, I swore by the fire of thine eyes
I ne'er could a sweetness unvaried endure;

Hail! high festival day - Venantius Fortunatus

Hail! high festival day whose rites are revered through the ages;
Now is the conquering Christ risen from gloom to the stars;
Hail, high festival day, whose rites are revered through the ages;