Ah, Long Winter Nights, Tormentors of My Life

Poem by Pierre De Ronsard Collection Last Verses (Ronsard)Period 16th century

Ah, long winter nights, tormentors of my life,
Give me patience, and let me sleep,
Your name alone makes me sweat and shudder
Throughout my body, so cruel are you to me.

Sleep, with its wings, does not for a moment fan
My ever-open eyes, and I cannot close
Eyelid upon eyelid, and I do nothing but groan,
Suffering like Ixion eternal torments.

Old shadow of the earth, or rather shadow of hell,
You have opened my eyes with a chain of iron,
Consuming me in bed, wounded by a thousand points:

To drive away my sorrows, bring me death,
O death, the common port, the comfort of men,
Come bury my woes, I beg you with clasped hands.

Pierre de Ronsard

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-ah-longues-nuicts-dhyver-de-ma-vie-bourrelles-pierre-de-ronsard/