After getting amazingly good feedback on my previous article about movies that make you cry, I decided to write about other things that will impress people to tears. If crying is not quite desirable in the day to day life, when it comes to fiction people love to shed a tear or two for those movie heroes who face difficult life situations. Poems are even easier to touch the heart, as they don’t even need to depict such situations for building up those tears inside the reader’s mind. Metaphors and subtle suggestions are most of the times enough to make sensitive people feel the emotion. Here’s a list of 10 great poems that make you cry (actually they may not make all of you look after a handkerchief, but they are still beautiful and memorable). Most of them are sad and talk about love and friendship. Some of the poems are song lyrics. Where possible, I’ve included the song video with English subtitles for foreign language ones. Where I couldn’t find subtitles, I added the translation below the video. Poems are not ranked, but if you wish, I’d love to hear which one is your favorite and why it makes you cry. Let's make this list really big, shall we?
1. Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks, 1974
Here are the lyrics of this song:
Goodbye to you my trusted friend
We've known each other since we were nine or ten
Together we climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and A B C's
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.
Goodbye my friend it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
Pretty girls are everywhere
Think of me and I'll be there
We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the hills that we climbed were just seasons
Out of time......
Goodbye Papa please pray for me
I was the black sheep of the family
You tried to teach me right from wrong
Too much wine and too much song
Wonder how I got along.
Goodbye Papa its hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
Little children everywhere
When you see them I'll be there.
We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons
Have all gone.
We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons
Have all gone.
Goodbye Michelle my little one
You gave me love and helped me find the sun
And every time that I was down
You would always come around
And get my feet back on the ground.
Goodbye Michelle it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
With the flowers everywhere
I wish that we could both be there
We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the stars we could reach
Were just starfish on the beach
We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the stars we could reach
Were just starfish on the beach
We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons
Have all gone
All our lives we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the hills that we climbed were just seasons
Out of time......
We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
With more than 6 million copies sold worldwide, Seasons in the Sun was one of the great hits of the 70s, but few people may know its roots come from a song written and interpreted 13 years earlier by Jacques Brel, a Belgian artist. You can listen below to Brel’s version:
2. Dying (Le Moribonde - Jacques Brel, 1961)
This is what the lyrics say:
Farewell Emil, I loved you well
Farewell Emil, I loved you well, you know
We used to sing the same wines
We used to sing the same chicks
We used to sing the same sorrows.
Farewell Emil, I'm going to die
It's tough dying in spring, you know,
But I go to flowers with my soul at peace,
As you who are as good as white bread,
I know you'll take care of my wife.
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
I want you to have fun like crazy,
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
After you see me to the grave.
Farewell Priest, I loved you well
Farewell Priest, I loved you well, you know
We didn’t belong in same groups
We didn’t follow the same path,
But we seeking for the same harbor.
Farewell Priest, I'm going to die
It's tough dying in spring, you know,
But I go to flowers with my soul at peace,
As you who’ve been her confident,
I know you'll take care of my wife.
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
I want you to have fun like crazy,
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
After you see me to the grave.
Farewell Antoine, I didn’t love you
Farewell Antoine, I didn’t love you, you know
I’m dying to see myself dying today
While you’re well and alive
And even stronger than a pain in the butt.
Farewell Antoine, I'm going to die
It's tough dying in spring, you know,
But I go to flowers with my soul at peace,
As you who were her lover,
I know you'll take care of my wife.
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
I want you to have fun like crazy,
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
After you see me to the grave.
Farewell my wife, I loved you well
Farewell my wife, I loved you well, you know
But I take the train to the Good God now,
A train that came ahead of yours,
But we all take whatever train we can.
Farewell my wife, I'm going to die
It's tough dying in spring, you know,
But I go to flowers with my eyes closed, my wife,
As you who’ve seen that I closed them so often,
I know you'll take care of my soul.
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
I want you to have fun like crazy,
I want you to laugh
I want you to dance
After you see me to the grave.
As you can see, this one is in a bit more dramatic note than the previous one, as the guy in the story is not only dying as he sings, but he’s also been dying a little each time he closed his eyes on his wife’s love affair.
3. Song Of Old Lovers (Chanson des Vieux Amants – Jacques Brel, 1967)
This is another great musical poem written and composed by Jacques Brel, featuring a brilliant piano arrangement by Gerard Jouannest. The lyrics depict the “tender war” represented by the twenty year marriage of Jacques Brel and his wife Therese.
4. My Feelings For You Have Become Too Much
This is a nice song, illustrating a poem about the breakup sorrow of a girl who confesses “I love him but I let him go”.
“I’m gonna spend my whole life trying To keep love from dying” That’s a learning we could surely use more in our lives, couldn’t we?
5. Words Don’t Come Easy
This is another hit from the 80s, many of us probably still remember.
6. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
Bad romance is always a source of tears. How do you like Lady Gaga? Is she cool or kitch? She seems to be on the wave right now.
7. Never Let You Go – Justin Bieber
This song is not too much of a tear starter, but when seeing a 12 years old boy like Justin Bieber singing “baby, know for sure that I’ll never let you go”, we can only foresee a flood of tears. How many of us didn’t let go of the “love of my life” from the age of 12?
8. Mirabeau Bridge – Guillaumme Apollinaire
The originally French language poem has its special charm which is difficult to translate if you aren’t a poet yourself. I’m not a poet, but I hope I was able to pass some of the emotion to you with this English translation:
The Seine flows under Mirabeau bridge,
Taking our past love with it.
It must be reminding me
That joy always follows sorrow
Night falls a bell tolls
Days go away I stay.
Hand in hand, let’s stay face to face
While under
The bridge of our joint arms passes
With eternal regrets the lazy wave.
Night falls a bell tolls
Days go away I stay.
Love drifts away like this running water
Love drifts away
How slow our life is
And how violent our hope
Night falls a bell tolls
Days go away I stay.
Days pass, weeks pass
Neither past time
Nor past love ever return
Under Mirabeau bridge the Seine flows.
Night falls a bell tolls
Days go away I stay.
9. With Every Single Day (In fiecare zi – Romulus Vulpescu)
With every single day we disregard
The birds, the love and the forgiving sea
Not realizing that we do, in fact,
Replace them with a desert of dismay.
Just fooled into the comfort of a dream
Which we dismiss with just one hesitation
We linger in our circle without seam
Denying our eyes the contemplation
We roll up in our sheets without joy,
A loneliness in two, cowardice fixes,
Whispering to each other words of lie
Which turn to dross our worn and common kisses.
Eventually we find ourselves too hollow
With an impermissibly low and sad ideal,
Too skeptical, too lonely, too desert
To see that love is here and still real.
With every single day we disregard
The birds, the love and the forgiving sea
Not realizing that we do, in fact,
Replace them with a desert of dismay.
After reading this poem you may want to relax a little and listen to an awesome musical interpretation by Tudor Gheorghe, Romanian folk music artist, poet and actor. Lyrics are not in English, but you already know what the poem is about, don’t you?
10. Nobody Deserves Your Tears
“Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This quote includes an unspoken poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme to make us think of how many times we cry for people that don’t deserve our tears. What a waste, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s not a waste. Like rain is needed for the rainbow to come out, a little crying may be needed to help happiness show up afterwards.
The list of sad and beautiful poems could go on forever. I’m actually inviting you to add your contribution, if you feel like it. What is your favorite tear shedding poem?
