"I am ashamed of the violence of my own love.
In this ruined house how I had hoped to be a builder!

Today our verses, Asad, are only an idle pastime.
What's the use of flaunting our talent, then?"

— Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, from "Twilight in Delhi," trans. R. Parthasarathy

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"Among the shadows of people, sea horse bodies dry,
Lose translucence, become rough and blunt.

Between two fingers you crush them, beauty and love,
Into what is not beautiful and what (you don’t remember) stopped loving."

— Aleš Šteger, from "Sea Horse"