It was a day like today 1788 when saw its first light George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron of Byron, in London. Later he managed to make that light one of the brightest that they wore in their time until it became one of the most famous English poets of all time. Admired in his day by our homelands Bécquer and Espronceda, Byron represents as few the quintessential romantic cursed hero and poet. Today i read 4 of his poems to remember it.

What it was

Away from it conventional, eccentric, controversial, vain and controversial, the adjectives multiply when talking about it. Suffered what is now called Bipolar disorder or manic-depressive syndrome, something that many considered reason for his extraordinary capacities for poetry.

His admiration was for the poorest, most marginalized and miserable in society and he considered the rest hypocrites, especially the nobility, to which he belonged. Also always defended the weakest and the oppressed, and his support for Spain in the face of the Napoleonic invasion, and also of the independence of the Spanish-American nations, is known. Y his portraits of corsairs, pirates or filibusters are the paradigm of the romantic message.

His great fondness for the company of animals, especially his dog, is also more than known. Everyone knows the famous phrase attributed to him:

The more I know men, the more I love my dog.

Today I want to remember in your memory these 4 poems of the many so intense and beautiful that he wrote. But Byron should be read every day.

Four poems

Remember me.

My lonely soul cries in silence,
except when my heart is
united to yours in celestial alliance
of mutual sighing and mutual love.

It is the flame of my soul like aurora,
shining in the sepulchral enclosure:
almost extinct, invisible, but eternal ...
not even death can stain it.

Remember me! ... Close to my grave
do not pass, no, without giving me your prayer;
for my soul there will be no greater torture
than knowing that you have forgotten my pain.

Hear my last voice. It is not a crime
pray for those who were. I never
I asked you for nothing: when I expire I demand of you
that on my grave you shed your tears.

The first kiss of love

Absent with your fictions of flimsy romances,
Those rags of falsehood woven by madness;
Give me the fleeting spirit with its faint glow,
Or the rapture that inhabits the first love kiss.

Yes, poets, your breasts with fantasies will shine,
That passion in the grove will dance with ardor;
And from the blessed inspiration your sonnets will flow,
But can they ever taste the first love kiss?

If Apollo must refuse your assistance,
Or the willing Nine are at your service;
Do not invoke them, say goodbye to the Muses,
And test the effect of the first love kiss.

I hate you, and I hate your cold compositions,
Although the prudent condemns me,
And the intolerant disapproves;
I embrace the delights that flow from the heart,
Whose heartbeat and joy are the first kiss of love.

Your shepherds and their flocks, those fantastic themes,
They may be fun but they will never move.
Arcadia unfolds like a dream of beautiful color,
But how could it compare to the first love kiss?

Oh, cease to affirm that man, since he arose
From the lineage of Adam, he has fought against misery!
Some patches of Heaven vibrate on Earth,
And Eden resurfaces with the first kiss of love.

When the years freeze the blood, when our pleasures pass,
(Floating for years on the wings of a dove)
The most loved memory will always be the last,
Our sweetest monument, the first kiss of love.

Walk beautiful

Walk beautiful, like the night
Of clear climates and starry skies;
And all the best of the dark and the light
It meets in his appearance and in his eyes:
Thus enriched by that tender light
That heaven denies the common day.

A shadow too many, a ray of less,
The nameless grace would have diminished
That stirs in each braid of black shine,
Or gently illuminate your face;
Where serenely sweet thoughts express
How pure, how lovely is his abode.

And on that cheek, and on that forehead,
They are so soft, so calm, and at the same time eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that shine,
And they speak of days lived in goodness,
A mind at peace with everything
A heart whose love is innocent!

I saw you cry

I saw you cry! Your tear, mine
in your blue pupil it shone restlessly,
like the white dew drop
on the delicate stem of the violet.

I saw you laugh! And a fertile May,
the roses defoliated by the breeze
they could not draw in their faint
the ineffable expression of your smile.

Just like the clouds in the sky
from the sun they receive such a beautiful light,
that the night does not erase with its kiss,
nor does it eclipse the clear star with its light.

Your smile transmits fortune
to the sad soul, and your uncertain look,
leaves a sweet clarity so pure
that reaches the heart after death.