A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
Ruggiero, to amaze the British host,
And wake more wonder in their wondering ranks,
The bridle of his winged courser loosed,
And clapped his spurs into the creature’s flanks;
High in the air, even to the topmost banks
Of crudded cloud, uprose the flying horse,
And now above the Welsh, and now the Manx,
And now across the sea he shaped his course,
Till gleaming far below lay Erin’s emerald shores.
There round Hibernia’s fabled realm he coasted,
Where the old saint had left the holy cave,
Sought for the famous virtue that it boasted
To purge the sinful visitor and save.
Thence back returning over land and wave,
Ruggiero came where the blue currents flow,
The shores of Lesser Brittany to lave,
And, looking down while sailing to and fro,
He saw Angelica chained to the rock below.
‘Twas on the Island of Complaint — well named,
For there to that inhospitable shore,
A savage people, cruel and untamed,
Brought the rich prize of many a hateful war.
To feed a monster that bestead them sore,
They of fair ladies those that loveliest shone,
Of tender maidens they the tenderest bore,
And, drowned in tears and making piteous moan,
Left for that ravening beast, chained on the rocks alone.
Thither transported by enchanter’s art,
Angelica from dreams most innocent
(As the tale mentioned in another part)
Awoke, the victim for that sad event.
Beauty so rare, nor birth so excellent,
Nor tears that make sweet Beauty lovelier still,
Could turn that people from their harsh intent.
Alas, what temper is conceived so ill
But, Pity moving not, Love’s soft enthralment will?
On the cold granite at the ocean’s rim
These folk had chained her fast and gone their way;
Fresh in the softness of each delicate limb
The pity of their bruising violence lay.
Over her beauty, from the eye of day
To hide its pleading charms, no veil was thrown.
Only the fragments of the salt sea-spray
Rose from the churning of the waves, wind-blown,
To dash upon a whiteness creamier than their own.
Carved out of candid marble without flaw,
Or alabaster blemishless and rare,
Ruggiero might have fancied what he saw,
For statue-like it seemed, and fastened there
By craft of cunningest artificer;
Save in the wistful eyes Ruggiero thought
A teardrop gleamed, and with the rippling hair
The ocean breezes played as if they sought
In its loose depths to hide that which her hand might not.
Pity and wonder and awakening love
Strove in the bosom of the Moorish Knight.
Down from his soaring in the skies above
He urged the tenor of his courser’s flight.
Fairer with every foot of lessening height
Shone the sweet prisoner. With tightening reins
He drew more nigh, and gently as he might:
“O lady, worthy only of the chains
With which his bounden slaves the God of Love constrains,
“And least for this or any ill designed,
Oh, what unnatural and perverted race
Could the sweet flesh with flushing stricture bind,
And leave to suffer in this cold embrace
That the warm arms so hunger to replace?”
Into the damsel’s cheeks such color flew
As by the alchemy of ancient days
If whitest ivory should take the hue
Of coral where it blooms deep in the liquid blue.
Nor yet so tightly drawn the cruel chains
Clasped the slim ankles and the wounded hands,
But with soft, cringing attitudes in vain
She strove to shield her from that ardent glance.
So, clinging to the walls of some old manse,
The rose-vine strives to shield her tender flowers,
When the rude wind, as autumn weeks advance,
Beats on the walls and whirls about the towers
And spills at every blast her pride in piteous showers.
And first for choking sobs she might not speak,
And then, “Alas!” she cried, “ah, woe is me!”
And more had said in accents faint and weak,
Pleading for succor and sweet liberty.
But hark! across the wide ways of the sea
Rose of a sudden such a fierce affray
That any but the brave had turned to flee.
Ruggiero, turning, looked. To his dismay,
Lo, where the monster came to claim his quivering prey!
A few random poems:
- Let It Be Forgotten by Sara Teasdale
- Владимир Маяковский – Вегетарианцы
- I’m not listening by Rashmi Sreekumar
- Огюст Барбье – Собачий пир
- The Earth Trembles by Shahida Latif
- Illusion by Mercedes Madrigal
- The Friend by Marge Piercy
- My New-Cut Ashler by Rudyard Kipling
- Sampan Song
- In Imitation of Chaucer poem – Alexander Pope
- Crush by Muhereza Louis
- Song by Sir Philip Sidney
- His Bargain by William Butler Yeats
- Олег Бундур – Праздник встречи
- The Appointment by Ruth Padel
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
- Makers And Creatures by Vernon Scannell
- Love thy Country and Do a useful Act – Gurazada by Vijay Narayana Chilaka
- Lesson In Grammar by Vernon Scannell
- Juan In Middle Age by Vernon Scannell
- Incendiary by Vernon Scannell
- Human Instrument by Victoria Bukofske
- Early Morning by Victoria Bukofske
- Death In The Lounge Bar by Vernon Scannell
- Ageing Schoolmaster by Vernon Scannell
- A sinners prayer by Victoria Rose
- A quiet storm by Victor A. Bueno M.
- A poodle and a hound by Victoria Rose
- A kiss to the ground by Victoria Rose
- A City Remembered by Vernon Scannell
- A Case Of Murder by Vernon Scannell
- Song IX: Ho Ye Who Seek Saving by William Morris
- Song IV: Draw Near and Behold Me by William Morris
- Song III: It Grew Up Without Heeding by William Morris
- Song II: Have No Thought for Tomorrow by William Morris
- Song I: Though the World Be A-Waning by William Morris
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
Alan Seeger (1888-1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk musician, Pete Seeger.