What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for a reply,
And in my heart there sits a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.
Month: January 2014
fragment 4 from Sappho
and lovely laughing–oh it
puts the heart in my chest on wings
for when I look at you, even a moment, no speaking
is left in me
translated by Anne Carson
The Song of a Dream from the Aztec
Now, my friends, please hear:
it is the song of a dream:
each spring the gold young corn
gives us life;
the ripened corn gives us refreshment;
to know that the hearts of our friends
are true is to put around us
a necklace of precious stones.
translated by Angel Garibay & John Bierhorst
Song from the Makah tribe
Mine is a proud village, such as it is,
We are at our best when dancing.
translated by Hazel Parker Butler
the heart’s journey
my heart follows a path
toward you
though where you are
is uncertain
who you are
unknown
that doesn’t stop this heart
from seeking
through words
and endless action
the heart that beats
inside you
a Navajo song of missing home
That flowing water! That flowing water!
My mind wanders across it.
That broad water! That flowing water!
My mind wanders across it.
That old-age water! That flowing water!
My mind wanders across it.
translated by Washington Matthews
from Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman
You road I enter upon and look around,
I believe you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here.
untitled fragment 3 from Sappho
among mortal women, know this
from every care
you could release me
translated by Anne Carson
untitled fragment 2 from Sappho
Some men say an army of horse and some men say an army on foot
and some men say an army of ships is the most beautiful thing
on this black earth. But I say it is
what you love.
translated by Anne Carson
untitled fragment from Sappho
For the man who is beautiful is beautiful to see
but the good man will at once also beautiful be.
translated by Anne Carson
Leonard Durso 