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Untitled Document
This is the place
where, with my friends, I
indulge in poetry and dance and dreams.
Join
us and share a moment of rapture. |
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One day I wrote
her name
upon the strand
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Edmund Spenser |
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One day I
wrote her name upon the strand
but came the
waves and washed it away
again I wrote
it with a second hand
but came the
tide and made my pains his prey
Vain man, said
she, that do in vain essay
a mortal thing
so to immortalise
for I myself
shall like to this decay
and also my
name by wiped out likewise
Not so quoth I let baser things devise
to die in the
dust, but you shall live by fame
my verse your
virtues rare shall eternise
and in the
heavens write your glorious name
Where,
when death shall all the world subdue
our love shall live, and later life renew |
ITHACA |
C. P. Cavafy |
When
you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is
long,
full of adventure, full
of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and
the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon, do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The
Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.
Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.
Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.
Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean. |
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Carpe diem |
Horace (Odes 1.11). |
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Tu ne quaesiris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi,
finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios
temptaris numeros. Ut melios, quicquid erit, pati!
Seu plures hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,
quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenium:
sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi
spem longam reseces. Dum luquimur, fugerit invida
aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. |
Non indagare,
è dannoso sapere quale fine a me e a te gli dei avranno dato, o Leuconoe, né
tenterai i calcoli babilonesi. Quanto è meglio sopportare qualsiasi cosa che
accadrà. Sia che Giove ci abbia donato molti inverni ancora, sia che sia
l’ultimo quello che ora sugli opposti scogli affatica il mar Tirreno, gusta e
filtra i vini, e poiché la vita è breve, rinuncia alle speranze lontane. Intanto
che parliamo fugge il tempo invidioso, cogli l’attimo fuggente il meno possibile
fiduciosa nel domani.
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Leuconoe,
don't ask--it's forbidden to know-- what end the gods will give me or you. Don't
play with Babylonian fortune-telling either. Better just deal with whatever
comes your way. Whether you'll see several more winters or whether the last one
Juppiter gives you is the one even now pelting the rocks on the shore with the
waves of the Tyrrhenian sea--be smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long
hopes to a short period. Even as we speak, envious time is running away from us.
Seize the day (Carpe diem), and trust as little as possible in the future.
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Lyrics | Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence lyrics
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