THE BROKEN HEART.
by John Donne


He is stark mad, whoever says,
That he hath been in love an hour,
Yet not that love so soon decays,
But that it can ten in less space devour ;
Who will believe me, if I swear
That I have had the plague a year?
Who would not laugh at me, if I should say
I saw a flash of powder burn a day?

Ah, what a trifle is a heart,
If once into love's hands it come !
All other griefs allow a part
To other griefs, and ask themselves but some ;
They come to us, but us love draws ;
He swallows us and never chaws ;
By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks do die ;
He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry.

If 'twere not so, what did become
Of my heart when I first saw thee?
I brought a heart into the room,
But from the room I carried none with me.
If it had gone to thee, I know
Mine would have taught thine heart to show
More pity unto me ; but Love, alas !
At one first blow did shiver it as glass.

Yet nothing can to nothing fall,
Nor any place be empty quite ;
Therefore I think my breast hath all
Those pieces still, though they be not unite ;
And now, as broken glasses show
A hundred lesser faces, so
My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore,
But after one such love, can love no more.

Alfred De Musset - Rapelle-Toi

Rappelle-toi, quand l'Aurore craintive

Ouvre au Soleil son palais enchanté ;

Rappelle-toi, lorsque la nuit pensive

Passe en rêvant sous son voile argenté ;

A l'appel du plaisir lorsque ton sein palpite,

Aux doux songes du soir lorsque l'ombre t'invite,

Ecoute au fond des bois

Murmurer une voix :

Rappelle-toi.



Rappelle-toi, lorsque les destinées

M'auront de toi pour jamais séparé,

Quand le chagrin, l'exil et les années

Auront flétri ce coeur désespéré ;

Songe à mon triste amour, songe à l'adieu suprême !

L'absence ni le temps ne sont rien quand on aime.

Tant que mon coeur battra,

Toujours il te dira

Rappelle-toi.



Rappelle-toi, quand sous la froide terre

Mon coeur brisé pour toujours dormira ;

Rappelle-toi, quand la fleur solitaire

Sur mon tombeau doucement s'ouvrira.

Je ne te verrai plus ; mais mon âme immortelle

Reviendra près de toi comme une soeur fidèle.

Ecoute, dans la nuit,

Une voix qui gémit :

Rappelle-toi.

William Ernest Henley
Invictus


OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance 5
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade, 10
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate: 15
I am the captain of my soul.

Here's one that I read recently that really caught my heart. I don't know who the artist is. Maybe I will try to translate it if you want.

Regensgedicht

Stetig rauscht der Regen nieder
Auf die graue kalte Welt,
Spült hinfort die frohen Lieder,
Fort, was mich geborgen hält.

Spült den Frieden aus der Seele
Und das Glück dem Herzen fort,
Staut sich dann in meiner Kehle
Und ertränkt mir jedes Wort.

Ach, erloschen sind die Sterne,
Denn der Himmel weint mit mir
Um den Liebsten in der Ferne
Und das wehe Sehnen hier.

Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever
by Robert Burns

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, and then for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.

Who shall say that Fortune grieves him
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me,
Dark despair around benights me.

I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy;
Naething could resist my Nancy;
But to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love for ever.

Had we never loved sae kindly,
Had we never loved sae blindly,
Never met -or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure!

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.

I have a beautiful mp3 of this. I can share if someone's interested.

Bitte.....

My favorite German song (not a poem, but a contemporary song) is Weinst Du by Echt:

Unsere Liebe ist am Boden, läuft langsam aus,
Noch eine Runde, bis sie Stille steht,
und Du, ich geh' am Stock, will nie wieder schlafen,
solange Du mich Nacht für Nacht in meinen Träumen besuchst.
Jetzt lieg' ich neben Dir, wir ha'm uns alles gesagt,
ha'm uns ausgesprochen, uns Luft gemacht,
Ich fühl' mich wie ausgekotzt, Dir geht's nicht viel besser,
dann seh' ich es in Deinen Augen glitzern.

Sag' mal weinst Du, oder ist das der Regen,
der von Deiner Nasenspitze tropft ?
Sag' mal weinst Du etwa, oder ist das der Regen,
der von Deiner Oberlippe perlt ?
Komm' her, ich küß' den Tropfen weg,
probier' ihn, ob er salzig schmeckt ...

Jetzt sitz' ich hier, und schreibe nur noch blinde Liebeslieder,
von Herz und Schmerz und Schmalz,
und so was Tolles kommt nie wieder.
Hätt' ich nie gedacht, noch vor'n paar Tagen
lagen wir uns Nacht für Nacht im Arm.
Jetzt lieg' ich neben Dir, wir ha'm uns alles gesagt,
ha'm uns ausgesprochen, uns Luft gemacht,
Ich fühl' mich wie ausgekotzt,
Dir geht's nicht viel besser,
dann seh' ich es in Deinen Augen glitzern.

Sag' mal weinst Du, oder ist das der Regen,
der von Deiner Nasenspitze tropft ?
Sag' mal weinst Du etwa, oder ist das der Regen,
der von Deiner Oberlippe perlt ?
Komm' her, ich küß' den Tropfen weg,
probier' ihn, ob er salzig schmeckt ...

Sag' mal weinst Du, oder ist das der Regen,
der von Deiner Nasenspitze tropft ?
Sag' mal heulst Du etwa, oder ist das der Regen,
der von Deiner Oberlippe perlt ?
Komm' her, ich küß' den Tropfen weg,
probier' ihn, ob er salzig schmeckt ...

Translation:


Our love is done, slowly fading out
Goes for one more round before it stops turning
Never thought it would end up this way
Just a few days ago
We lay in each others arms every night

Now I'm lying next to you
We talked about everything, spoke our hearts out
I feel so sick and so do you
And suddenly I see it glittering in your eyes

Tell me, are you crying or is it the rain, shimmering on your nose?
Tell me, are you really crying or is it the rain
Dripping from your lips?
Come darling, I'll kiss it away
Try if it tastes salty

This is pretty accurate, but pretty a pretty crappy translation, I admit If you tranlsated the title, it would be something like "A poem about the rain"

The rain relentlessly hushes down
into the grey coldness of the world,
Rinsing away the cheerful songs
that keeps me in place.

The peace from my soul
and the luck in my heart is rinsing away,
the painful words jamming my throat
are drowning me.

Oh, the stars are dying out,
because the sky cries with me
even the lovliest in the distance
for which I desperately yearn.

FALLEN

Whose to blame
If a tear
Falls from an eye?

Could it be these hands?
Which did nothing
but wipe the thing
Living in endless pretense,
being all right

Or the hand?
Which broke the heart
and left the tear
falling...alone

Is it the heart?
Which didn't bear the pain
Wrapped in misery
Half-dead,
in ceaseless bleeding

Perhaps the eye!
Which saw everything.
Innocence!
That never knew what hurt
a sight could bring

Or is it the tear
itself
Which tried to hold back
but still couldn't stop
from falling?

A Tainted Heart
Time left one once faded,
Lost among the great sea of hatred.
A fragile soul forever wandering,
Blood and destruction is all she can see,
Revenge is all that fuels her,
With a blade in her heart, and a fire in her soul,
She seeks one end no matter the path,
All she loved was wrongfully taken,
All she knew, know lies in ashes,
Now she is at home in shadows,
Questions linger within this tainted heart.

Hearts Desire:
The thoughts eat at my mind,
my heart tears at my soul,
the truth is hiding within,
why must i hold back,
the demons scratching,
no angels to guide my way,
all has become dark,
my path is no longer seen,
lost in my fears,
longing for your hand,
help me find my way,
let your love be my light.

I wrote those about... 5 years ago :p

__________________

Sometimes love seems like a one way street, but when you decide to travel it, you will be surprised where it could lead you.

Ahh a fellow linguist.

I like a lot of these poems, even yours XPrabbit. Are your favorite poems the ones you wrote though?

Here's the lyrics to a song I really like. Italian romance.:

Con Te Partiro
by Andrea Bocelli

Quando sono solo
Sogno allorizzonte
E mancan le parole
Si lo so che non c? luce
In una stanza quando manca il sole
Se non ci sei tu con me, con me
Su le finestre
Mostra a tutti il mio cuore
Che hai accesso
Chiudi dentro me
La luce
Che hai incontrato per strada.

Con te partiro
Paesi che non ho mai
Veduto e vissuto con te
Adesso si li vivr?
Con te partiro
Su navi per mari
Che io lo so
No no non esistono pi?
Con te io li rivivro.

Quando sei lontana
Sogno allorizzonte
E mancan le parole
E io si lo so
Che sei con me con me
Tu mia luna tu sei qui con me
Mio sole tu sei qui con me,
Con me, con me, con me.

Con te partiro
Paesi che non ho mai
Veduto e vissuto con te
Adesso s? li vivr?
Con te partir?
Su navi per mari
Che io lo so
No no non esistono pi?
Con te io li rivivr?
Con te partir?
Su navi per mari
Che io lo so
No no non esistono pi?
Con te io li rivivr?
Con te partiro.
Io con te.

no name - author: my love

and you will be my muse
the waterfall and river from which my words will flow
lighting the room in which I write my tears, the ink of my quill
every second that you're away, another word to say I miss you
every star in the sky, is one more time I make a wish
every beat of your heart another day, time crawls by dearest muse of mine
why must my heart beat so far away from thine?