Yi Sun-sin 李舜臣
c. 1595 · Joseon Korea · In camp on Hansan Island, in the war
On this land of water the autumn light is fading. Startled by the cold, the wild geese fly high in their ranks. A night of tossing and turning with a troubled heart. The waning moon shines on my bow and sword.
水國秋光暮 驚寒鴈陣高
憂心輾轉夜 殘月照弓刀Yi Chungmugong jeonseo, book 1, "Chanted at Night on Hansan Island"
More from Yi Sun-sin · #sleepless
In the same thread
Imru' al-Qais امرؤ القيس
earlier 6th century · pre-Islamic Arabia
A night like the waves of the sea let down its curtains on me with every kind of care, to try me.
وليل كموج البحر أرخى سدوله
علي بأنواع الهموم ليبتليThe Muallaqa, Divan of Imru' al-Qais
Nalan Xingde 納蘭性德
1682 · Qing China · In an army tent on the road beyond Shanhai Pass, following the emperor
A watch of wind, a watch of snow, a clamour that breaks my homesick heart and lets no dream form. At home there is no such sound.
風一更，雪一更，聒碎鄉心夢不成，故園無此聲。To the tune "Endless Longing"
Du Fu 杜甫
c. 762 · Tang China
When has a traveller's sleep ever come? The autumn sky will not grow light. I roll up the blind: the shadow of a setting moon. My pillow raised, the sound of the far river.
客睡何曾著，秋天不肯明。
卷簾殘月影，高枕遠江聲。"A Traveller's Night," in the Complete Tang Poems
Juvenal Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis
c. AD 110 · Roman Empire · On life in a rented room in Rome, where the carts rumble all night
In this city it takes great wealth to get any sleep.
magnis opibus dormitur in urbe.Satire 3
Miguel de Cervantes
1615 · Spain · Said when his master woke him in the middle of the night. Don Quixote answered that he had never heard Sancho speak so elegantly
Blessings on him who invented sleep, the cloak that covers all human thoughts, the food that takes away hunger, the water that chases off thirst, the fire that warms the cold, the cold that tempers the heat, and, in the end, the common coin with which everything is bought, the scale and weight that makes the shepherd equal to the king and the simple man to the wise.
Bien haya el que inventó el sueño, capa que cubre todos los humanos pensamientos, manjar que quita la hambre, agua que ahuyenta la sed, fuego que calienta el frío, frío que templa el ardor, y, finalmente, moneda general con que todas las cosas se compran, balanza y peso que iguala al pastor con el rey y al simple con el discreto.
Don Quixote, part 2, chapter 68, spoken by Sancho Panza
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us