Before me now a little picture lies-
A little shadow of a childish face,
Childishly sweet, yet with the dawning grace
Of thought and wisdom on her lips and eyes.
Fair, oval, broad-brow’d face-small, delicate head-
Transparent skin, with blue veins shining through-
All the soft outlines, beautiful and true,
Bring me the echo of the words “God said.”
Made “in our image”-sure ’tis that we see,
God’s likeness, in the fair face of a child,
By the world’s sin and passion undefiled-
Ay, as I look, it seems quite plain to me.
The light wherein the little features shine,
Strange, mystic light, so undefined and faint,
So far too pure for any words to paint-
‘Tis a reflection of the Face divine.
Some day the earthly shadows will be cast
Across that sunshine-it may be to dim
Awhile the visible countenance of Him;
But ’twill be there-the likeness-to the last.
Some day the lucid waters, in which lie
Pictured those glorious lineaments, will be
Stirred up and troubled like a stormy sea;-
But they will yet re-settle-by-and-by.
They will re-settle when the soul is still’d,
Its passions, its wild longings, and its pain;
The pure reflection will shine out again
When earth’s hopes are relinquish’d, unfulfill’d.
They will re-settle in those after-years
When life’s hard lessons have been conned and learn’d;
When this child’s beauty will have all return’d,
More lovely for the trouble and the tears.
They will re-settle in the calm of death,
When the sweet eyes are laid asleep, and when
The heart is hush’d. Truly God’s likeness then-
The mirror clear, unsullied by a breath.
Ah! while I look, and trace each tender line,
I think most of the day when I shall see
The dear face in that perfect purity,
Its mortal features clothed with the divine.
This self-same face, but with the image bright,
Nevermore undefined, and faint, and dim;
This self-same face, yet like the face of Him,
In glory and in beauty infinite.
A few random poems:
- Sonnet III: Look In Thy Glass, and Tell the Face Thou Viewest by William Shakespeare
- The Affliction Of Margaret by William Wordsworth
- A Human Being Needs Strong Tea
- Among The Sandhills
- Nomenclature
- the_kings_breakfast.html
- The Editor’s Guests by Will McKendree Carleton
- Михаил Лермонтов – Забудь опять свои надежды
- Additions: The Fire at Tranter Sweatley’s by Thomas Hardy
- Poets to Come. by Walt Whitman
- Олег Бундур – Письмо от бабушки
- Always for the first time
- Breaking and Entering by Ralph Angel
- Николай Заболоцкий – Весна в лесу
- Николай Заболоцкий – Старая актриса
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
- Show It At The Beach by Shel Silverstein
- She’s My Ever Lovin’ Machine by Shel Silverstein
- Scum Of The Earth by Shel Silverstein
- Sarah Cynthia Slyvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out by Shel Silverstein
- Rosalie’s Good Eats Cafe by Shel Silverstein
- Rock ‘N’ Roll Band by Shel Silverstein
- Ring Of Grass by Shel Silverstein
- Recipe For A Hippopotamus Sandwich by Shel Silverstein
- Put Something In by Shel Silverstein
- Polly In A Porny by Shel Silverstein
- Point Of View by Shel Silverstein
- Pathetic Way Of Getting Over Me by Shel Silverstein
- On The Way To The Bottom by Shel Silverstein
- Never Bite A Married Woman On The Thigh by Shel Silverstein
- My Mind Keeps Movin’ by Shel Silverstein
- Morgan’s Curse by Shel Silverstein
- Melinda Mae by Shel Silverstein
- Mama I’ll Sing One For You by Shel Silverstein
- Makin’ It Natural by Shel Silverstein
- Lookin’ For Myself by Shel Silverstein
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

Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.