Ode to Memory (1830)
Context: Thou who stealest fire,
From the fountains of the past,
To glorify the present; oh, haste,
Visit my low desire!
Strengthen me, enlighten me!
I faint in this obscurity,
Thou dewy dawn of memory.
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet
This greatest hour was hallowed and thundered<br>By angel's choirs; fire melted sky.<br>He asked his Father:"Why am I abandoned...?"<br>And told his Mother: "Mother, do not cry..." <br class="br"> Translated by Tanya Karshtedt (1996) http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/akhmatova/akhmatova_ind.html <br class="br">Requiem; 1935-1940 (1963; 1987), Crucifixion
“Since Thou hast regarded me,
Grace and beauty hast Thou given me.”
John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom
Context: Despise me not,
For if I was swarthy once
Thou canst regard me now;
Since Thou hast regarded me,
Grace and beauty hast Thou given me. ~ 33
George Gordon Byron Sardanapalus
shall yet be happy.
Assyria is not all the earth—we'll find
A world out of our own — and be more bless'd
Than I have ever been, or thou, with all
An empire to indulge thee.
Act IV, scene 1.
Sardanapalus (1821)
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist
The Golden Violet - The Child of the Sea
The Golden Violet (1827)
O che gentile
Scongiuro hà ritrovato questo sciocco
Di rammentarmi la mia giovanezza,
Il ben passato, e la presente noia.
Act II, scene ii.
Aminta (1573)
James David Forbes (1809–1868) Scottish physicist and glaciologist
"Completing my Twenty-first Year" (1839), a prayer written by Forbes on April 20th, 1830. Life and letters of James David Forbes p. 450.
“Sky and sea, keep harm from me. Earth and fire, bring… my desire.”
L.J. Smith (1965) American author
Source: The Initiation / The Captive Part I
“Oh, Diamond! Diamond! thou little knowest what mischief thou hast done!”
Isaac Newton (1643–1727) British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern classical physics
This is from an anecdote found in St. Nicholas magazine, Vol. 5, No. 4, (February 1878) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15331/15331-h/15331-h.htm :<br>Sir Isaac Newton had on his table a pile of papers upon which were written calculations that had taken him twenty years to make. One evening, he left the room for a few minutes, and when he came back he found that his little dog "Diamond" had overturned a candle and set fire to the precious papers, of which nothing was left but a heap of ashes.
