It's another sleepless night where my thoughts turned to poetry. I picked a very well read and threadbare copy of a book of sonnets. I was actually checking my memory to see if I remembered a few of my favorite poems correctly. Here's a few popular ones you might recognize:

SONNET CXVI

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
- William Shakespeare

SONNET XLIII

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Dime / Tell Me

Dime por favor donde estás, / Please tell me where you are,
en que rincón puedo no verte, / in which corner can I not see you
dónde puedo dormir sin recordarte / where can I sleep without remembering
y dónde recordar sin que me duela. / and remember without feeling pain.

Dime por favor dónde pueda caminar / Please tell me where I can walk
sin ver tus huellas, / without seeing your footprints
dónde puedo correr sin recordarte / where can I run without remembering
y dónde descansar con mi tristeza. / and find solace with my sadness.

....

Dime por favor cuál es la noche / Please tell me, which night
en que no vendrás para velar mis sueños... /might your memory not haunt my dreams
Que no puedo vivir porque te extraño /For I cannot live because I miss you
y no puedo morir porque te quiero. /and I cannot die because I love you.

- Jorge Luis Borges

Posted by: Michele at 02:45 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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