A poem by Alcaeus of Mytilene (c. 625/620 – c. 580 BC)
The rain of Zeus descends, and from high heaven
A storm is driven:
And on the running water-brooks the cold
Lays icy hold;
Then up: beat down the winter; make the fire
Blaze high and higher;
Mix wine as sweet as honey of the bee
Abundantly;
Then drink with comfortable wool around
Your temples bound.
We must not yield our hearts to woe, or wear
With wasting care;
For grief will profit us no whit, my friend,
Nor nothing mend;
But this is our best medicine, with wine fraught
To cast out thought.
A few random poems:
- Юлия Друнина – Здесь продают билеты на Парнас
- Sonnet 111: O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide by William Shakespeare
- Валерий Брюсов – Il bacio
- The Borders by Sharon Olds
- Николай Языков – Элегия (День ненастный, темный; тучи)
- The Leädy’s Tower by William Barnes
- Ольга Седакова – Прибавления к “Старым песням”
- Sonnet # 7 by Luis A. Estable
- The Captured Goddess poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Promise of the Morning Star poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Hyperion. Book I poem – John Keats poems
- Epitaph for Our Children
- Annus Mirabilis by Philip Larkin
- Огюст Барбье – Кьяйя
- Unknown Bird by W. S. Merwin
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Epic Menageries by MB Moshe
- The Cup of Life by Mike Yuan
- The Colored Balloon by Mike Yuan
- The Cinnamon Peeler by Michael Ondaatje
- State Fair Time by Michael S Wilson
- Speaking To You (From Rock Bottom) by Michael Ondaatje
- Soulmating by Mike Yuan
- Since That Summer by Mike Yuan
- Searching by Mike Yuan
- Scotland by MB Moshe
- Ruined World by Michael Yuan
- Ready for Retirement by Mike Yuan
- Promise Ya by Miraj Patel
- Picking Cherries by Mike Yuan
- Outset by Mike Yuan
- Obdurant men, the worst of the abstinant by Miles
- Notes For The Legend Of Salad Woman by Michael Ondaatje
- Not even a child by Miles
- Nailing by Mike Yuan
- My Ink by Mike Yuan
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works

Alcaeus of Mytilene ( c. 625/620 – c. 580 Before Christ) ] was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria.