Alcman, 700BC
- Night
- "Over the drowsy earth, still night prevails;
Calm sleep the mountain tops and shady vales, the rugged cliffs and hollow glens;
The silent wood no more with noisy hum of insect rings;
And all the feathered tribes, by gentle sleep subdued, roost in the glade, and hang their drooping wings..."
Boethius - Excerpts, 550AD
- The Universal Aim
- "Towards the Good do all things tend, many paths, but one the end.
For naught lasts, unless it turns backward in its course,
And yearns to that Source to flow again,
Whence its being first was ta'en..."
Boethius’ Complaint
- "Who wrought my studious numbers smoothly once in happier days,
Now perforce in tears and sadness learn a mournful strain to raise.
Lo, the Muses, grief-disheveled, guide my pen and voice my woe;
Down their cheeks unfeigned the tear drops to my sad complainings flow!
These alone in danger's hour Faithful found, have dared attend
On the footsteps of the exile to his lonely journey's end..."
The Unreasonableness of Hatred
- "The wild beasts vent on man their rage, yet 'gainst their brothers' lives men point the murderous steel;
Unjust and cruel wars they wage, and haste with flying darts the death to meet or deal..."
Fortune’s Malice
- "Mad Fortune sweeps along in wanton pride, uncertain as Euripus' surging tide;
Now tramples mighty kings beneath her feet; now sets the conquered in the victor's seat.
She heedeth not the wail of hapless woe, but mocks the griefs that from her mischief flow.
Such is her sport; so proveth she her power; and great the marvel, when in one brief hour
She shows her darling lifted high in bliss, then headlong plunged in misery's abyss..."
The Upward Look
- "In what diverse shapes and fashions do the creatures great and small
over wide earth's teeming surface skim, or scud, or walk, or crawl!
Some with elongated body sweep the ground,
and, as they move, trail perforce with writhing belly in the dust a sinuous groove;
Some, on light wing upward soaring, swiftly do the winds divide,
and through heaven's ample spaces in free motion smoothly glide;
These earth's solid surface pressing, with firm paces onward rove,
ranging through the verdant meadows, crouching in the woodland grove..."
The Soul’s Flight
- "Wings are mine; above the pole far aloft I soar.
Clothed with these, my nimble soul scorns earth's hated shore,
Cleaves the skies upon the wind, sees the clouds left far behind.
Thus each circling orb explores through night's stole that peers;
Then, when all are numbered, soars far beyond the spheres,
Mounting heaven's supremest height to the very Fount of light..."
The Thorns of Error
- "Who fain would sow the fallow field, and see the growing corn,
Must first remove the useless weeds, the bramble and the thorn.
After ill savour, honey's taste is to the mouth more sweet;
After the storm, the twinkling stars the eyes more cheerly greet.
When night hath past, the bright dawn comes in car of rosy hue;
So drive the false bliss from thy mind, and thou shall see the true..."
Truth’s Paradoxes
- "Why does a strange discordance break the ordered scheme's fair harmony?
Hath God decreed 'twixt truth and truth there may such lasting warfare be,
That truths, each severally plain, we strive to reconcile in vain?
Or is the discord not in truth, since truth is self consistent ever?
But, close in fleshly wrappings held, the blinded mind of man can never
Discern… so faint her taper shines, the subtle chain that all combines?"
Self-Mastery
- "Who on power sets his aim, first must his own spirit tame;
If he cannot drive away haunting care and black distress,
In his power, he's powerless..."
Human Folly
- "Where hidden lies the good all hearts desire, this blindness they can bear;
With gaze on earth low-bent, they seek for that which reacheth far beyond the starry firmament.
May they the race still run for wealth and high renown!
And when with much ado the false good they have grasped; ah, then too late!
May they discern the true"
The Bent of Nature
- "Lo, the lion captive ta'en meekly wears his gilded chain;
Yet though he by hand be fed, though a master's whip he dread,
If but once the taste of gore whet his cruel lips once more,
Straight his slumbering fierceness wakes, with one roar his bonds he breaks,
And first wreaks his vengeful force on his trainer's mangled corpse..."
Wonder and Ignorance
- "None marvels why upon the shore the storm-lashed breakers beat,
Nor why the frost-bound glaciers melt at summer's fervent heat;
For here the cause seems plain and clear,
Only what's dark and hid we fear..."
Glory May not Last
- "Why, then, strive so vainly, oh, ye proud ones! To escape your mortal doom?
Though your name, to distant regions bruited, o'er the earth be widely spread,
Though full many a lofty-sounding title on your house its lustre shed,
Death at all this pomp and glory spurneth when his hour draweth nigh,
Shrouds alike th' exalted and the humble, levels lowest and most high..."
Invocation
- "Maker of earth and sky, from age to age who rul'st the world by reason;
At whose word time issues from Eternity's abyss,
To all that moves the source of movement, fixed thyself and moveless.
A soul of threefold nature, moving all.
This, cleft in twain, and in two circles gathered,
Speeds in a path that on itself returns,
Encompassing mind's limits, and conforms
The heavens to her true semblance..."
Love is Lord of All
- "Love it is that holds the chains, Love o'er sea and earth that reigns;
Love—whom else but sovereign Love?
Love, high lord in heaven above! Yet should he his care remit, all that now so close is knit
In sweet love and holy peace, would no more from conflict cease,
But with strife's rude shock and jar all the world's fair fabric mar..."
Faith and Reason
- "As far as you are able, join faith to reason"
Amergin translated by Lady Augusta
- Song of Amergin
- “I am the wind on the sea;
I am the wave of the sea;
I am the bull of seven battles;
I am the eagle on the rock;
I am a flash from the sun;
I am the most beautiful of plants;
I am a strong wild boar;
I am a salmon in the water;
I am a lake in the plain;
I am the word of knowledge;
I am the head of the spear in battle;
I am the god that puts fire in the head;
Who spreads light in the gathering on the hills?
Who can tell the ages of the moon?
Who can tell the place where the sun rests?”
Carmina Gadelica
- Consecrating the Chase
- “In name of the Holy Three-fold as one,
I am bathing mine own hands in the light and in the elements of the sky…”
The Enchanted Valley
- I will go where lilies blow beside the flow of languid streams,
Within that vale of opal glow, where bright-winged dreams flutter to and fro,
Fain am I its magic peace to know.
Beware! beware of that valley fair! All dwellers there to phantoms turn,
For joys and griefs they have none to share, Tho' ever they yearn life's burdens to bear,
Ah! of that valley beware, beware!
Ancient Poems
- An Erechite’s Lament
- My Lady, thou hast surrounded me, and brought me to grief.
The mighty enemy has smitten me down like a single reed.
Not wise myself, I cannot take counsel; I mourn day and night like the fields.
I, thy servant, pray to thee.
Let thy heart take rest, let thy disposition be softened...
A Decent into the Underworld
- To the underworld I turn, I spread my wings like a bird,
I descend to the house of darkness, to the dwelling of Irkalla,
To the house from which there is no exit, the road on which there is no return,
To the house whose dwellers long for light, Dust is their nourishment and mud their food...
Penitential Psalms
- The lord has looked on me in anger; God has punished me in wrath,
The goddess was angry with me and hath brought me to sorrow.
I sought for help, but no one took my hand, I wept, but no one to me came, I cry aloud, there is none that hears me,
Sorrowful I lie on the ground, look not up.
To my merciful God I turn, I sigh aloud, the feet of my goddess I kiss.
To the known and unknown God I loud do sigh, to the known and unknown goddess I loud do sigh,
O lord, look on me, hear my prayer, O goddess, look on me, hear my prayer...
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