To The Duchess Of Ferrara
Royal bride, see the time advance
That calls true lovers to the dance,
To charm the clear and frosty nights,
Beneath the soft and pleasing lights.
Now a young girl dares to hear,
Love’s secret pain, in her chaste ear,
And leaves her lover uncertain, gently,
At war, with life and death, sweetly.
Great palaces, painted ceilings high,
Echo with song: only I weeping make
This dark prison ring. And is this then
Your loyalty? This the great gift, that I
So longed for? Ah, then you call a grave,
And prison, your pity, and your recompense?
poem by Torquato Tasso

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When I Was A Young Girl
(A Song of Old Ballads)
WHEN I was a young girl, all in a green arbor,
When I was a young girl in Springtimes gone by
All the long days I went singing and smiling,
Down by the roses the sweet days beguiling,
Love in the arbor and love in the sky . . .
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, how happy was I!
Oh, the long days I must sit at my sampler,
Oh, the slow way that the still time would go!
I longed to be running across the bright heather,
'Off with the silk gown and on with the leather,
Following the raggle-taggle gypsies, oh!'
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, a long time ago!
When I was a young girl in days that were golden,
When I was a young girl, and life had no smart,
All the world seemed a place for my playing,
Full of great lovers to come to me, saying,
'Madam, I give you the keys of my heart . . .'
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, and dreaming apart!
When I was a young girl, I dreamed of my lover,
A tall cavalier who should whisper me low,
'Love, on your lips are red roses a-blowing,
I am your true love, and fast is time going
Am I your true love? Oh, say yes or no!'
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl–
When I was a young girl, a long time ago!
When I was a young girl there came my true lover,
Swiftly I knew him in glad days gone by;
Never a sword or a lovelock or feather,
But oh, at his touch 'twas our hearts came together,
Love in the arbor and love in the sky . . .
When I was a young girl, a young girl, a young girl,
When I was a young girl, how happy was I!
poem by Margaret Widdemer

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The Auld Triangle
A hungry feeling
Came oer me stealing
And the mice were squeeling
In my prison cell
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the royal canal
Oh! to start the morning
The warden bawling
Get up out of bed, you! and clean out your cell!
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the royal canal
Oh! the screw was peeping
And the loike was sleeping
As he lay weeping
For his girl sal
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the royal canal
On a fine spring evening
The loike lay dreaming
And the sea-gulls were wheeling
High above the wall
And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the royal canal
Oh! the wind was sighing
And the day was dying
As the loike lay crying
In his prison cell
And that auld triangle went jingle-bloody-jangle
All along the banks of the royal canal
In the womens prison
There are seventy women
And I wish it was with them
That I did dwell
Then that auld triangle could go jingle-jangle
All along the banks of the royal canal
song performed by by Pogues

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Soft & Wet
Hey, lover, I got a sugarcane
That I wanna lose in you,
Baby can you stand the pain
Hey, lover, sugar dont you see?
Theres so many things that you do to me
Ooo baby!
All I wanna see is the love in your eyes (hey, lover)
And all I wanna hear is your sweet love sighs
All I wanna feel is burning flames (hey, lover)
Tell me, tell me, baby, that u feel the same
Tell me that u feel the same way I do
Tell me that u love me girl
[wed be so lost, in our mouths, the best, I feel it everyday (every way)
U feel so wrong, be alone, if u just follow somebody someday]
Soft and wet
Soft and wet
Soft and wet
Soft and wet
Every time Im with you, you just love me to death
Ooo weee, baby. you leave me without...
Breath! ooo, baby! oooo, yeah
Youre just as soft as a lion tamed (hey, lover)
Youre just as wet as the evening rain
How will I take it when you call my name? (hey, lover)
Your love is driving me...
Youre driving me insane
Crazy, baby
Oh, girl
Crazy bout your love
Soft and wet (u know)
You are soft and wet (oh, sugar)
Your love is soft and wet
Soft and wet
song performed by by Prince

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Lover After Me
Here I go again I promised myself I wouldn't think of you today
It's been seven months and counting
You've moved on
I still feel exactly the same
It's just that everywhere I go all the buildings know your name
Like photographs and memories of love
Steel and granite reminders
The city calls your name and I can't move on
Ever since you've been gone
The lights go out the same
The only difference is
You call another name
To your love
To your lover now
To your love
The lover after me
Am I all alone in the universe?
There's no love on these streets
I have given mine away to a world that didn't want it anyway
So this is my new freedom
It's funny
I don't remember being chained
But nothing seems to make sense anymore
Without you I'm always twenty minutes late
Ever since you've been gone
The lights go out the same
The only difference is
You call another name
To your love
To your lover now
To your love
The lover after me
And time goes by so slowly
The nights are cold and lonely
I shouldn't be holding on
But I'm still holding on for you
Here I go again
I promised myself I wouldn't think of you today
But I'm standing at your doorway
I'm calling out your name because I can't move on
Ever since you've been gone
The lights go out the same
The only difference is
You call another name
To your love
To your lover now
To your love
The lover after me
song performed by by Savage Garden from Affirmation

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Where Is Your Love?
I waited for you all this night
but you did not come.
I waited for you for a year; of dark nights;
but you did not come.
I would have crossed mountains, deserts, rivers,
stormy oceans, and frozen wastes, if I could.
Just to be with you my love.
Just to see my eternal love.
I would have compelled, made the attempt,
just to be with you my love.
I would have compelled, made the attempt,
just to see my eternal love.
Therefore I the afflicted, with a great love,
ask where is your love?
You have not seen me,
because you were getting your hair cut,
visiting a friend, gardening,
going to the gym, running, or going
straight home. In the past.
I ask, is that true love,
is that an immortal love?
Is that a love, to duel
heroically and die for?
You are not here because
you do not love me enough.
True love has always found a way.
True love always finds a way.
To be with the eternally
longed for lover.
To do or die for the eternally
longed for lover.
True love always finds a way.
You should have been with me
forever and for eternity.
poem by Terence George Craddock

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After My Death
After my death mourn me this way:
'There was a man-and see: he is no more;
before his time this man died
and his life's song in mid-bar stopped;
and oh, it is sad! One more song he had
and now the song is gone for good,
gone for good!
And it is very sad!-a harp too he had
a living being and murmurous
and the poet in his words in it
all of his heart's secret revealed,
and all the strings his hand gave breath
but one secret his heart kept hid,
round and round his fingers played,
and one string stayed mute,
mute to this day!
And it is sad, very sad!
All of her days this string moved,
mute she moved, mute she shook,
for her song, her beloved redeemer
she yearned, thirsted, grieved and longed
as a heart pines for its intended:
and though he hesitated each day she waited
and in a secret moan begged for him to come,
and he hesitated and never came,
never came!
And great, great is the pain!
There was a man-and see: he is no more,
and his life's song in mid-bar stopped,
one more song he had to go,
and now the song is gone for good,
gone for good!
poem by Hayyim Nahman Bialik

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The heavenly Prison
Your dark skin, Nita, is my prison,
Beyond which I don’t see any beam.
Your wordless words are its lock
Beyond which I don’t hear any din.
There are like me many prisoners,
Who serve in you for a life time,
Whereas I shall till death takes me.
That the freedom is heaven
Is disproved by your prison.
22.11.2002
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

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0162 Greatness
How great is greatness? asks my questing soul:
scenting behind that quest, eternity;
that dark which, studied, lights the dazzling whole
and brings to finite thought, infinity;
as when great singers sing, all hearts can sing;
great dancers give us sense that all can dance;
great actors speak for all of us; we think
to know all painted greatness at one glance:
we know already, greatness' unfenced whole,
we know that boundless place, the human heart;
Creation is no secret to our soul;
all being sings its song in every part.
How glorious those sages who can see
in everything that lives, totality!
poem by Michael Shepherd

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Unfortunate
Fold her hands upon her breast,
And let her sweetly sleep.
She has found a perfect rest,
Beneath her winding sheet.
Her weary limbs are now at rest,
And free from toil and pain;
Her weary soul from earth has left,
But in Heaven lives again.
Death has closed her mild blue eyes,
That once was full of mirth,
Her lovely form once full of life,
Will now return to earth.
Touch her gently, let her lie,
This forsaken girl forlorn;
Tears may fall from strangers' eyes,
O'er her silent form.
She was a poor erring girl,
A wanderer alone,
Friends she had none in this world,
Nor a place she could call home.
She's found a home bright and fair
In that world above,
Angels dwell together there,
In perfect peace and love,
Place her gently in her grave,
And let her sweetly sleep.
Judge her not; for he who gave
Her life, her soul will keep.
poem by Julia A Moore

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The Death-Day Of Korner
A song for the death-day of the brave
A song of pride!
The youth went down to a hero's grave,
With the sword, his bride.
He went, with his noble heart unworn,
And pure, and high;
An eagle stooping from clouds of morn,
Only to die!
He went with the lyre, whose lofty tone
Beneath his hand
Had thrill'd to the name of his God alone,
And his Father-land.
And with all his glorious feelings yet
In their first glow,
Like a southern stream that no frost hath met
To chain its flow.
A song for the death-day of the brave
A song of pride!
For him that went to a hero's grave,
With the sword, his bride.
He hath left a voice in his trumpet-lays
To turn the flight,
And a guiding spirit for after days,
Like a watch-fire's light.
And a grief in his father's soul to rest,
Midst all high thought;
And a memory unto his mother's breast,
With healing fraught.
And a name and fame above the blight
Of earthly breath,
Beautiful beautiful and bright,
In life and death!
A song for the death-day of the brave
A song of pride!
For him that went to a hero's grave,
With the sword, his bride!
poem by Felicia Dorothea Hemans

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Pain Of Existence Without.....
It was pain of existence without your phone calls.....
This pain was not related to time, as time moved on.....
but the pain remained, pain and more pain....
without a phone call from you........
Time started moving, but there was no phone call, , , , , ,
I was lost with the acute awareness of this great pain.....
pain and more pain......
I wish I could tell you how much your phone calls mean to me, , , , ,
what if we have not met, what if we have not seen each other
but dear your phone call is what makes me pull through my day....
your voice is a magic to me, it is music to my ears....
but dear you never called.... and the pain remains...
The pain reminds me of the wonderful times we had....
the long phone calls.... your voice, your silence, , your moans
all this was so wonderful, which meant so much to me....
but dear you never called........
come back and call me dear...... and tell me how much I mean to you
call me once my love........
I wait for your magic voice, for all wonderful things you tell me....
for all the beautiful moments over phone we had.......
I wait with great pain, pain and pain.....
Just to hear you..... or get a message from you
Your messages are my breakfast, my dinner, , , ,
I sleep thinking of you hearing you, reading you...
I wake up to read your message..........
But dear you never called you never messaged....
come back just once my love come back
I just want to tell how much I miss your voice.............
Ring Out, Solstice Bells
Now is the solstice of the year,
Winter is the glad song that you hear.
Seven maids move in seven time.
Have the lads up ready in a line.
Ring out these bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.
Join together beneath the mistletoe.
By the holy oak whereon it grows.
Seven druids dance in seven time.
Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.
Ring out these bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.
Praise be to the distant sister sun,
Joyful as the silver planets run.
Seven maids move in seven time.
Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.
Ring out those bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.
Ring on, ring out.
Ring on, ring out.
song performed by by Jethro Tull

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Adonais
He breaks the spell
Still young and words from
Out this dream of life and leaves us
Sleeping stone rack
Lying consumed by
Phantom pains
And displays of greed
He slips from out this shadowland
And pain where heads grow soft and grey
And age destroys all hope
And spirits crush the men
And hide away
The wordless watch the soft sky smile
And breathless hear the low wind sigh
What death will join
No more let love divide
"dream yourself awake" he calls
"an eternity awaits us all
Open your eyes and be with me
Be with me..."
He breaks the chains
So young disspells
The hateful shades
Of treacherous time
Leaves us sleeping
Tortured mute
Devoured by ghosts
And dreams of life
Slips through ties
And dust to be the world
We dream he lives apart
But everything we feel
The young and beautiful
And brave of heart
The wordless watch the soft sky smile
And breathless hear the low wind sigh
What death will join
No more let love divide
"dream yourself awake" he calls
"an eternity awaits us all
Open your eyes and be with me
Be with me..."
"dream yourself awake" he calls
"an eternity awaits us all
Open your eyes and be with me
Be with me forever...
song performed by by Cure

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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White Prism
Theres a white prism with phony jism
Spread across its face
And the soulful convicts forever interred
Lose the smile across their faces
The smile that registered hopes or dreams
Has proven just a waste
And Im the indentured servant
Forever in his place
Im the indentured servant
Forever in his place
I wish I built a cabinet
Of shiny bolts and wood
Secret draws and hiding places
Sculpted out of wood
Secret places, secret lies
In a desk lying alone
A secret letter written to you
To be read when youre alone
A secret letter written to you
To be read when youre alone
It says, Im your indentured servant
I can no longer pretend
That Im a lover or an equal
Im not even a friend
Im not good enough to serve you
Im not good enough to stay
So it is that I beseech you
To please turn me away
So it is that I beseech you
To please turn me away
Turn me away
Turn me away
Turn me away
Im asking you to let me go
It hurts me when youre sad
And I can not do better than this
Which must surely make you mad
Id be better off in your cabinet
Or in a prison made of cloth
Crouched beneath your dress I come
Shooting little spurts
Crouched beneath your dress I come
Shooting little spurts
Im your indentured servant
But even I have pride
In what I make or say or do
Although Ive lots to hide
I hide from freedom and I hide from you
cause youve found me out
I belong in prison beneath your legs
In a cabinet that Ive built
Beneath a candle in a secret drawer
In a prison by a moat
Im your indentured servant
And Im asking you to leave
Me outside this prison cell
Where only you can breathe
I-i-i, Im your indentured servant
But Im asking you for this
Please release me from this love
And do it with a kiss
Im your indentured servant
Im the one youll miss
Do it with a kiss
Do it with a kiss
Do it with a kiss
Im the one youll miss
song performed by by Lou Reed

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Hear The Echo by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika (Translated from Assamese)
I hear the echo
I hear the echo
I hear the echo
I hear the echo
Of the screaming night
Carried over from the other side
Of the mountain bodering my village
I hear the echo
I train my ears but can't hear a thing
I open my eyes wide but can't see a thing
I close my eyes and think, but do not understand
I don't know how to climb a thousand mountains
I hear the echo of the screaming night
I hear the echo
May be its the tragic story of a young girl
May be its grandma's bedtime fairy tale
May be its the longing of a farmer's nursery
The tragic story of the young girl has come to an end
The bed time fairy tale of grandma has come to an end
The longings of the farmer's nursery has come to an end
The familiar song still escapes me
I hear the echo of the new cry
I hear the echo
My dark hair get tinted with morning's red hues
The panicky mist before the eyes vanishes to the blue
A thousand cries come out of a people awakened
A thousand mountains crumble in the impact of its sound
I hear an approaching storm in the sea of humanity
I hear the echo of the new cry
I hear the echo...
- Dr. Bhupen Hazarika (1953)
© Syed Ahmed Shah(Translator) , Bokultol, Guwahati.
poem by Syed Ahmed Shah

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To Love (Amanda)
Sweet tyrant Love,- but hear me now!
And cure while young this pleasing smart;
Or rather aid my trembling vow,
And teach me to reveal my heart.
Tell her, whose goodness is my bane,
Whose looks have smiled my peace away,
Oh! whisper how she gives me pain,
Whilst undesigning, frank, and gay.
'Tis not for common charms I sigh,
For what the vulgar beauty call;
'Tis not a cheek, a lip, an eye,
But 'tis the soul that lights them all!
For that I drop the tender tear,
For that I make this artless moan;
Oh! sigh it, Love! into her ear,
And make the bashful lover known.
poem by James Thomson

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A Ballad
To that dear nymph, whose pow'rful name
Does every throbbing nerve inflame
(As the soft sound I low repeat,
My pulse unequal measures beat),
Whose eyes I never more shall see,
That once so sweetly shin'd on thee;
Go, gentle wind! and kindly bear
My tender wishes to the fair.
Hoh, ho, ho, &c.
Amidst her pleasures let her know
The secret anguish of my woe,
The midnight pang, the jealous hell,
Does in this tortur'd bosom dwell:
While laughing she, and full of play,
Is with her young companions gay;
Or hearing in some fragrant bower
Her lover's sigh, and beauty's power.
Hoh, ho, ho, &c.
Lost and forgotten may I be!
Oh may no pitying thought of me
Disturb the joy that she may find,
When love is crown'd and fortune kind:
May that bless'd swain (whom yet I hate)
Be proud of his distinguish'd fate:
Each happy night be like the first;
And he be bless'd as I am curs'd.
Hoh, ho, ho, &c.
While in these pathless woods I stray,
And lose my solitary way;
Talk to the stars, to trees complain,
And tell the senseless words my pain:
But madness spares the sacred name,
Nor dares the hidden wound proclaim;
Which, secret rankling, sure and slow,
Shall close in endless peace my woe.
Hoh, ho, ho, &c.
When this fond heart shall ache no more,
And all the ills of life are o'er
(If gods by lovers' prayers are mov'd,
As ev'ry god in heaven has lov'd);
Instead of bright Elysian joys,
That unknown something in the skies,
In recompense of all my pain,
The only heaven I'd obtain,
May I, the guardian of her charms,
Preserve that paradise from harms.
Hoh, ho, ho, &c.
poem by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

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Summer Nights
Winters almost gone,
Oh how Ive waited so long
For summer nights.
When theres magic in the air
And I dont have a care,
All that matters to me
Is that you are here
On summer nights.
Theres a little caf
Where we can hear music play.
They keep the lights turned down low
Its a place where lovers go.
There youll hold me tight and say
Our love will always be this way
On summer nights.
At the end of the day
We can go down to the bay
And together hand in hand
We will walk along the sand
On summer nights.
In our little caf
Well dance the night away
And we know our love will be
Always true eternally.
And when the moon begins to shine
I can see that you are mine
On summer nights.
On summer nights.
On summer nights.
song performed by by Smiths

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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He Sees Through Stone
He sees through stone
he has the secret
eyes this old black one
who under prison skies
sits pressed by the sun
against the western wall
his pipe between purple gums
the years fall
like overripe plums
bursting red flesh
on the dark earth
his time is not my time
but I have known him
in a time gone
he led me trembling cold
into the dark forest
taught me the secret rites
to make it with a woman
to be true to my brothers
to make my spear drink
the blood of my enemies
now black cats circle him
flash white teeth
snarl at the air
mashing green grass beneath
shining muscles
ears peeling his words
he smiles
he knows
the hunt the enemy
he has the secret eyes
he sees through stone
poem by Etheridge Knight

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Ah, how sweet it is to love!
AH, how sweet it is to love!
Ah, how gay is young Desire!
And what pleasing pains we prove
When we first approach Love's fire!
Pains of love be sweeter far
Than all other pleasures are.
Sighs which are from lovers blown
Do but gently heave the heart:
Ev'n the tears they shed alone
Cure, like trickling balm, their smart:
Lovers, when they lose their breath,
Bleed away in easy death.
Love and Time with reverence use,
Treat them like a parting friend;
Nor the golden gifts refuse
Which in youth sincere they send:
For each year their price is more,
And they less simple than before.
Love, like spring-tides full and high,
Swells in every youthful vein;
But each tide does less supply,
Till they quite shrink in again:
If a flow in age appear,
'Tis but rain, and runs not clear.
poem by John Dryden

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