Eros
Eros, from rest in isles far-famed,
With rising Anthesterion rose,
And all Hellenic heights acclaimed
Eros.
The sea one pearl, the shore one rose,
All round him all the flower-month flamed
And lightened, laughing off repose.
Earth's heart, sublime and unashamed,
Knew, even perchance as man's heart knows,
The thirst of all men's nature named
Eros.
II.
Eros, a fire of heart untamed,
A light of spirit in sense that glows,
Flamed heavenward still ere earth defamed
Eros.
Nor fear nor shame durst curb or close
His golden godhead, marred and maimed,
Fast round with bonds that burnt and froze.
Ere evil faith struck blind and lamed
Love, pure as fire or flowers or snows,
Earth hailed as blameless and unblamed
Eros.
III.
Eros, with shafts by thousands aimed
At laughing lovers round in rows,
Fades from their sight whose tongues proclaimed
Eros.
But higher than transient shapes or shows
The light of love in life inflamed
Springs, toward no goal that these disclose.
Above those heavens which passion claimed
Shines, veiled by change that ebbs and flows,
The soul in all things born or framed,
Eros.
poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
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Related quotes
Two Idylls From Bion The Smyrnean
I
Once a fowler, young and artless,
To the quiet greenwood came;
Full of skill was he and heartless
In pursuit of feathered game.
And betimes he chanced to see
Eros perching in a tree.
'What strange bird is that, I wonder?'
Thought the youth, and spread his snare;
Eros, chuckling at the blunder,
Gayly scampered here and there.
Do his best, the simple clod
Could not snare the agile god!
Blubbering, to his aged master
Went the fowler in dismay,
And confided his disaster
With that curious bird that day;
'Master, hast thou ever heard
Of so ill-disposed a bird?'
'Heard of him? Aha, most truly!'
Quoth the master with a smile;
'And thou too, shall know him duly-
Thou art young, but bide awhile,
And old Eros will not fly
From thy presence by and by!
'For when thou art somewhat older
That same Eros thou didst see,
More familiar grown and bolder,
Shall become acquaint with thee;
And when Eros comes thy way
Mark my word, he comes to stay!'
II
Once came Venus to me, bringing
Eros where my cattle fed-
'Teach this little boy your singing,
Gentle herdsman,' Venus said.
I was young-I did not know
Whom it was that Venus led-
That was many years ago!
In a lusty voice but mellow-
Callow pedant! I began
To instruct the little fellow
In the mysteries known to man;
Sung the noble cithern's praise,
And the flute of dear old Pan,
And the lyre that Hermes plays.
But he paid no heed unto me-
Nay, that graceless little boy
Coolly plotted to undo me-
With his songs of tender joy;
And my pedantry o'erthrown,
Eager was I to employ
His sweet ritual for mine own!
Ah, these years of ours are fleeting!
Yet I have not vainly wrought,
Since to-day I am repeating
What dear lessons Eros taught;
Love, and always love, and then-
Counting all things else for naught-
Love and always love again!
poem by Eugene Field
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Or Just The Wind!
the hand of eros
wipes the sweat
from my forehead...
or perhaps it's only the wind
that i have come to know...
the mountains i climbed
now look like foothills....
the tips of my wings charred
and dredged through oil.
the dreams i held,
dreams of flesh and spirit,
now blow like dust
into the darkness of night.
and the taste of blood
now need be nothing more....
the river i felt inside me
poured into your deepest valley,
and lit the blackness
with tiny liquid fireflies.
inside of you, inside of hunger,
pulsing, pulsing... till
the light went out....
by a small fire too wet to burn,
i peed in the sand....
and stood waiting for the waves
to come and wash it away!
the hand of eros... or just the wind!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Cose Della Vita/ Cant Stop Thinking Of You
Duet with eros ramazzotti
(e.ramazzotti/a.cogliati)(english lyrics: t.turner/j.ralston)
Producer: eros ramazzotti
Album: eros (eros ramazzotti)
Sono umane situazioni
Quei momenti fra di noi
I distacchi ed I ritorni
Da capirci niente poi
Gia come vedi
Sto pensando a te...si..da un po
Theyre just human contradictions
Feeling happy feeling sad
These emotional transitions
All the memories weve had
Yes, you know its true
I just cant stop thinking of you
No I just cant pretend
All the time we spent could die
Wanna feel it again
All the love we felt then
Confinanti di cuore solo che ognuno sta
Dietro gli steccati degli orgogli suoi
Sto pensando a te
Sto pensando a noi
Sono cose della vita
Vanno prese un po cosi
Some for worse and some for better
But through it all weve come so far
Gia... come vedi
Io sto ancora in piedi perche
Sono umani tutti I sogni miei
Con le mani io li prenderei, si perch
Whats life without a dream to hold? ?
Take my hand and never let me go
Its part of life together
But what future does it hold? ?
Sono cose della vita
Ma la vita poi dove
Yes, you know its true
I just cant stop thinking of you
Questa notte che passa piano accanto a me
Cerco di affrontarla, afferrarla
If our hearts miss a beat
Or get lost like a ship at sea
I wanna remember, I can never forget
Cant stop thinking of you
Sto pensando a noi
Cant stop thinking of you
Cant stop
song performed by by Tina Turner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Eros and Thanatos
I find a suffused light
In El Greco's paintings,
In the still air
As always before the storm,
In the non-burning fire,
In the burning-out flame,
Such as life or love.
Eros and Thanatos -
Both almost the same psyche,
Because nothing changes.
Perchance only the light,
When it is less reflected in your eyes,
And loses its shine.
poem by Zofia Walas, translated by Dan Costinaş
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Mortality
O Nicias, not for us alone
Was laughing Eros born,
Nor shines alone for us the moon,
Nor burns the ruddy morn;
Alas! to-morrow lies not in the ken
Of us who are, O Nicias, mortal men!
poem by Eugene Field
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There is indeed a peculiar charm, both in friendship and in Eros, about those moments when Appreciative Love lies, as it were, curled up asleep, and the mere ease and ordinariness of the relationship (free as solitude, yet neither is alone) wraps us round. No need to talk. No need to make love. No needs at all except perhaps to stir the fire.
C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves
Submitted by Rebeca Bucur
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There is no art without Eros.
quote by Max Frisch
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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* * *
Eros seizes and shakes my very soul
like the wind on the mountain
shaking ancient oaks.
For I must tell you that we artists cannot tread the path of Beauty without Eros keeping company with us and appointing himself as our guide.
quote by Thomas Mann
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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He Did Not Want His Daughter To Dance With Me
Love is but a shadow
The shades in Hades
Seeks to be redeemed
But the ever watchful
Eyes of Cerberus is ever ready
Who could escape his ferocity?
I had never asked to be in love
Or in turn be loved by this
girl I saw,
But Eros had struck me a arrow,
I could feel its sting deep down
my marrow,
And my love had turned into
something more of a sorrow.
Love should be reciprocal
No one should break a heart,
In love with me your daughter
had been,
If you really love her, you should
let her be.
poem by Efe Benjamin
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And Ganymede too
Eros was such a man
And Ganymede too
They were not afraid
To do as they do
Both found of the state
And form of men
Beauty of fair face
And pleasing skin
They let their passion rule
To do no less
Let me and you
Follow our passion
To ourselves being true.
poem by David E. Patton
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Daylight and the dark
My own, as the sunrise greets the morning
my head is here but elsewhere is my heart
for we are the deepest oceans apart
and the ghost of our love lies there haunting
this vast distant chasm between us yawning.
Bolts shot from Eros always leave a mark
unforgotten through daylight and the dark.
Evening comes flirting as day is dawning.
poem by Diana Rosser
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Vision
(For Aline)
Homer, they tell us, was blind and could not see the beautiful faces
Looking up into his own and reflecting the joy of his dream,
Yet did he seem
Gifted with eyes that could follow the gods to their holiest places.
I have no vision of gods, not of Eros with love-arrows laden,
Jupiter thundering death or of Juno his white-breasted queen,
Yet have I seen
All of the joy of the world in the innocent heart of a maiden.
poem by Joyce Kilmer
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The Death Of Adonis
Fragments 108, 110, 115, 117, 116, 111, 114, and 113 combined.
This is the lamentation-song
For Adonis — woe for Adonis, woe!
Thus wailed Aphrodite in anguish-throe,
As she strove to hold him back from death:
'Let thine heart not faint, O love! Be strong!
O me, it burns me, thy failing breath!
It kindles through all my being a fire!
My heart is aflame with despairing desire!'
She calls to her Eros of golden wing,
She bids him steep in the ice-cold spring
Fine linen, and lay on Adonis' brow: —
'O love, let its coolness revive thee now! . . .
Vain, vain! — his eyes see me no more;
They are fixed in a gaze upon Hades' door!
They close — he sleeps — not the sleep of the dead!
Hush, stir not a pebble with heedless tread!
No, no! this is death! Now remaineth to me
No sweetness on earth — nor honey nor bee!'
Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities.
quote by C.S. Lewis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Assumpta Maria
Mortals, that behold a Woman,
Rising 'twixt the Moon and Sun;
Who am I the heavens assume? an
All am I, and I am one.
Multitudinous ascend I,
Dreadful as a battle arrayed,
For I bear you whither tend I;
Ye are I: be undismayed!
I, the Ark that for the graven
Tables of the Law was made;
Man's own heart was one, one Heaven,
Both within my womb were laid.
For there Anteros with Eros
Heaven with man conjoin-ed was,--
Twin-stone of the Law, Ischyros,
Agios Athanatos.
I, the flesh-girt Paradises
Gardenered by the Adam new,
Daintied o'er with sweet devices
Which He loveth, for He grew.
I, the boundless strict savannah
Which God's leaping feet go through;
I, the heaven whence the Manna,
Weary Israel, slid on you!
He the Anteros and Eros,
I the body, He the Cross;
He upbeareth me, Ischyros,
Agios Athanatos!
I am Daniel's mystic Mountain,
Whence the mighty stone was rolled;
I am the four Rivers' fountain,
Watering Paradise of old;
Cloud down-raining the Just One am,
Danae of the Shower of Gold;
I the Hostel of the Sun am;
He the Lamb, and I the Fold.
He the Anteros and Eros,
I the body, He the Cross;
He is fast to me, Ischyros,
Agios Athanatos!
I, the presence-hall where Angels
Do enwheel their plac-ed King--
Even my thoughts which, without change else,
Cyclic burn and cyclic sing.
To the hollow of Heaven transplanted,
I a breathing Eden spring,
Where with venom all outpanted
Lies the slimed Curse shrivelling.
For the brazen Serpent clear on
That old fang-ed knowledge shone;
I to Wisdom rise, Ischyron,
Agion Athanaton!
See in highest heaven pavilioned
Now the maiden Heaven rest,
The many-breasted sky out-millioned
By the splendours of her vest.
Lo, the Ark this holy tide is
The un-handmade Temple's guest,
And the dark Egyptian bride is
Whitely to the Spouse-Heart prest!
He the Anteros and Eros,
Nail me to Thee, sweetest Cross!
He is fast to me, Ischyros,
Agios Athanatos!
'Tell me, tell me, O Belov-ed,
Where Thou dost in mid-day feed!
For my wanderings are reprov-ed,
And my heart is salt with need.'
'Thine own self not spellest God in,
Nor the lisping papyrus reed?
Follow where the flocks have trodden,
Follow where the shepherds lead.'
He, the Anteros and Eros,
Mounts me in AEgyptic car,
Twin-yoked; leading me, Ischyros,
Trembling to the untempted Far.
'Make me chainlets, silvern, golden,
I that sow shall surely reap;
While as yet my Spouse is holden
Like a Lion in mountained sleep.'
'Make her chainlets, silvern, golden,
She hath sown and she shall reap;
Look up to the mountains olden,
Whence help comes with lioned leap.'
By what gushed the bitter Spear on,
Pain, which sundered, maketh one;
Crucified to Him, Ischyron,
Agion Athanaton!
Then commanded and spake to me
He who framed all things that be;
And my Maker entered through me,
In my tent His rest took He.
Lo! He standeth, Spouse and Brother;
I to Him, and He to me,
Who upraised me where my mother
Fell, beneath the apple-tree.
Risen 'twixt Anteros and Eros,
Blood and Water, Moon and Sun,
He upbears me, He Ischyros,
I bear Him, the Athanaton!
Where is laid the Lord arisen?
In the light we walk in gloom;
Though the sun has burst his prison,
We know not his biding-room.
Tell us where the Lord sojourneth,
For we find an empty tomb.
'Whence He sprung, there He returneth,
Mystic Sun,--the Virgin's Womb.'
Hidden Sun, His beams so near us,
Cloud enpillared as He was
From of old, there He, Ischyros,
Waits our search, Athanatos.
Who will give Him me for brother,
Counted of my family,
Sucking the sweet breasts of my Mother?--
I His flesh, and mine is He;
To my Bread myself the bread is,
And my Wine doth drink me: see,
His left hand beneath my head is,
His right hand embraceth me!
Sweetest Anteros and Eros,
Lo, her arms He leans across;
Dead that we die not, stooped to rear us,
Thanatos Athanatos.
Who is She, in candid vesture,
Rushing up from out the brine?
Treading with resilient gesture
Air, and with that Cup divine?
She in us and we in her are,
Beating Godward: all that pine,
Lo, a wonder and a terror!
The Sun hath blushed the Sea to Wine!
He the Anteros and Eros,
She the Bride and Spirit; for
Now the days of promise near us,
And the Sea shall be no more.
Open wide thy gates, O Virgin,
That the King may enter thee!
At all gates the clangours gurge in,
God's paludament lightens, see!
Camp of Angels! Well we even
Of this thing may doubtful be,--
If thou art assumed to Heaven,
Or is Heaven assumed to thee!
Consummatum. Christ the promised,
Thy maiden realm is won, O Strong!
Since to such sweet Kingdom comest,
Remember me, poor Thief of Song!
Cadent fails the stars along:-
Mortals, that behold a woman
Rising 'twixt the Moon and Sun;
Who am I the heavens assume? an
All am I, and I am one.
poem by Francis Thompson
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Tenderly
Magic promised day is dawning
All my life I’d be adorning
beside bride - wife pride - sojourning,
Dear to me!
Eros Reason is subborning
In a flash - rash leprechauning –
Never still, yet still this morning
Elfin free!
Vain is logic’s barren warning,
Any opposition scorning
In this quite outrageous fawning
Love for thee!
Let life rose bloom scorning thorning
disempower doubts once yawning
that dissolve as we sworn in
Tenderly!
(28 October 1992 revised 14 October 2008/for previous version see below)
See, the promised day is dawning
And my life I’d be adorning
Near a bride, - my pride – not mourning,
Dear to me!
Reason Eros is subborning
In a flash, - rash leprechauning –
Never still, yet still this morning
Elfin free!
Vain is logic’s barren warning,
Any opposition scorning
In this quite outrageous fawning
Love for thee!
Life is roses without thorning
And supposes doubts once yawning
Now dissolve, - each to each sworn in
Tenderly!
(28 October 1992)
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Kamakhya
Nothing turns me on
in aloneness self-rape
is no eros:
the blue hill hides the seed
in the sex of goddess
I can't awaken
nor can I rise from the ash
to be my real self
I am still lost in meanness
no third eye could locate
-R.K.SINGH
poem by R.K. Singh
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I tried to study accounting, but the numbers would just dance in my head. I only thought about music, music, music....
quote by Eros Ramazzotti
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Measure Of Time
EROS, what mean'st thou by this? In each of thine hands is an hourglass!
What, oh thou frivolous god! twofold thy measure of time?
"Slowly run from the one, the hours of lovers when parted;
While through the other they rush swiftly, as soon as they meet."
poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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