I order you to forgive yourself!
My favorite is in French, it was written by Emile NELLIGAN (1879-1941):
Le vaisseau d'orCe fut un grand Vaisseau taillé dans l'or massif:
Ses mâts touchaient l'azur, sur des mers inconnues;
La Cyprine d'amour, cheveux épars, chairs nues
S'étalait à sa proue, au soleil excessif.
Mais il vint une nuit frapper le grand écueil
Dans l'Océan trompeur où chantait la Sirène,
Et le naufrage horrible inclina sa carène
Aux profondeurs du Gouffre, immuable cercueil.
Ce fut un Vaisseau d'Or, dont les flancs diaphanes
Révélaient des trésors que les marins profanes,
Dégoût, Haine et Névrose, entre eux ont disputés.
Que reste-t-il de lui dans la tempête brève?
Qu'est devenu mon coeur, navire déserté?
Hélas! Il a sombré dans l'abîme du Rêve!
Translation
It was a massive Ship carved out of solid Gold,
Its masts reaching azure, she sailed on unknown seas
With Aphrodite of love spreadeagled at the prow,
Hair dishevelled and naked under excessive sun.
But it came that a night the ship struck the great reef
On treacherous Ocean where the Siren was heard.
The horrible shipwreck tilted the hull aslant
Deep down the abyss depth, immutable coffin.
It was a Gold Vessel. Her diaphanous sides
Were revealing treasures that the secular crew,
Disgust and Neurosis, and Hatred, fought over.
What’s left of it under the brief abating storm?
What became of my heart, empty deserted ship?
Alas, it has sunk down in the abyss of Dream.
Source:
http://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/emile_nelligan/le_vaisseau_d_or.htmlThat poem is just way too smart once you start to analyze it. Positive and negative words are perfectly placed and mixed.
