A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок
(1880-1921)
A girl was singing in a church choir
Of the weary people on foreign soil,
Of all the ships that sailed aspired,
Of all, who have forgotten their joy.
So sang her voice, to the cupola reaching,
White shoulders aglow in a dazzling ray,
And in the dark all were watching and harking
To the white dress singing in the ray.
And it seemed to them that joy was coming,
That all the ships, made a quiet berth,
That the weary people far from home dwelling
Found a happy life for themselves.
And the voice was sweet, and the ray was tiny,
And only up high, next to the Royal gate,
Privy to mysteries, – a child was crying
That homecoming is no one’s fate.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Маяковский – Две культуры
- Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein
- Another Song by Philip Levine
- In spring and summer winds may blow by Walter Savage Landor
- Lover’s Gifts XLII: Are You a Mere Picture by Rabindranath Tagore
- In A Railroad Station by Sara Teasdale
- Кондратий Рылеев – Меня пленяли наши деды
- For Sale by Shel Silverstein
- The Woods At Night by May Swenson
- Some One by Walter de la Mare
- The Fairies by William Allingham
- Ox Tamer, The. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Маяковский – Советская азбука (Железо куй, пока горячее…)
- Vows
- Mother, Among The Dustbins by Stevie Smith
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
- Ольга Берггольц – Я тайно и горько ревную
- Ольга Берггольц – Из блокнота сорок первого года
- Ольга Берггольц – Мы предчувствовали полыханье
- Ольга Берггольц – Я иду по местам боев
- Ольга Берггольц – Я говорю
- Ольга Берггольц – Второй разговор с соседкой
- Ольга Берггольц – Встреча
- Ольга Берггольц – Возвращение
- Ольга Берггольц – Вот я выбирала для разлуки
- Ольга Берггольц – Воспоминание (И вот в лицо пахнуло земляникой)
- Ольга Берггольц – В ложе Цимлянского моря
- Ольга Берггольц – В доме Павлова
- Ольга Берггольц – Украина
- Ольга Берггольц – Твоя молодость
- Ольга Берггольц – Триптих 1949 года
- Ольга Берггольц – Тост
- Ольга Берггольц – Таков мой подарок тебе за измену
- Ольга Берггольц – Так еще ни разу не забыла
- Ольга Берггольц – Стихи о ленинградских большевика
- Ольга Берггольц – Старая гвардия
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

Alexander Blok (1880-1921), also Block, was a Russian poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator and literary critic. A classic of Russian literature.