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:
- In The Train by Sara Teasdale
- The Man Who Dreamed Of Faeryland by William Butler Yeats
- World Below the Brine, The. by Walt Whitman
- Oh Unforgotten And Only Lover
- The King by Michael Yuan
- I Want To Die In My Own Bed by Yehuda Amichai
- Омар Хайям – Не порочь лозы-невесты
- The Portrait by Siegfried Sassoon
- Quatrain 1693 (Farsi with English Translation) by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- A Father’s Hands by Scott Ransopher
- Константин Ваншенкин – Городские костры
- Passer-By, These Are Words by Yves Bonnefoy
- To Any Dead Officer by Siegfried Sassoon
- Love of the heart by Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon
- The Wicked Postman by Rabindranath Tagore
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
- Robert Burns: Ca’ The Yowes To The Knowes: Second Version
- Robert Burns: On The Seas And Far Away:
- Robert Burns: Inscription To Miss Graham Of Fintry:
- Robert Burns: Ode For General Washington’s Birthday :
- Robert Burns: It Was A’ For Our Rightfu’ King:
- Robert Burns: The Highland Widow’s Lament :
- Robert Burns: The Highland Balou:
- Robert Burns: Bannocks O’ Bear Meal:
- Robert Burns: Charlie, He’s My Darling:
- Robert Burns: The Lovely Lass O’ Inverness:
- Robert Burns: Sonnet On The Death Of Robert Riddell: Of Glenriddell and Friars’ Carse.
- Robert Burns: On John Bushby, Esq., Tinwald Downs:
- Robert Burns: On Wm. Graham, Esq., Of Mossknowe:
- Robert Burns: On Capt. Lascelles:
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On A Noted Coxcomb: Capt. Wm. Roddirk, of Corbiston.
- Robert Burns: Epistle From Esopus To Maria :
- Robert Burns: Epitaph For Mr. Walter Riddell:
- Robert Burns: Pinned To Mrs. Walter Riddell’s Carriage:
- Robert Burns: The Epitaph:
- Robert Burns: Monody: On a lady famed for her Caprice.
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.