Late, late, the prize is drawn, the goal attained,
The Heart’s Desire fulfilled, Love’s guerdon gained.
Wealth’s use is past, Fame’s crown of laurel mocks
The downward-drooping head and grizzled locks.
The end is reached-the end of toil and strife-
The end of life.
Love flowers and fades like grass, and flowers again;
The spendthrift lovers waste themselves in vain;
Their fiery passions burn out one by one,
And then, alas! when their best days are done,
Spirit and body find their perfect mate-
So late! So late!
Long-sought, long seeking, through the lonely years,
The wanderers meet to weep their useless tears
For time and chance irrevocably flown,
Dear hopes outlived and happy faiths outgrown,
Children unborn, the myriad joys unseen
That might have been.
Not for the spring and morning-time of youth
The perfect flower of slow-unfolding truth,
The perfect love, that dreams of youth foretell,
But youth knows not and youth could never tell;
That light celestial, as of sunset fires
When day expires.
Late comes the gift that crowns the hungry quest,
Like ripe wheat-harvest in a land at rest,
And comes alone, a consecrated cup,
To those proved worthy to sit down and sup.
To them-aye, aye, despite their treasure lost,
‘T’is worth the cost.
‘T’is worth the cost to reach the heights at last,
Ere eyes are dim and daylight overpast.
To see one aim achieved, one dream fulfilled,
Ere striving brain and trusting heart are stilled.
To live one glorious hour-its price of pain
Is never paid in vain.
A few random poems:
- Full Moon by Walid Saba
- 1914 III: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- Алексей Жемчужников – Воспоминание в деревне о Петербурге
- Sestina Otiosa by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Music poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- I hear the roar of a Harley… by River Urke
- My Dead Dream by Sarojini Naidu
- Федор Сваровский – Об удивительном
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Ночь безлунная звездами)
- Низами Гянджеви – Когда ты локоны свои распустишь
- Pequeña niña mía by Mara Romero Torres
- A Death Song by William Morris
- Владимир Маяковский – Серые! К вам орем вниз мы… (РОСТА №313)
- For P’ei Ti by Wang Wei
- Address to His Elbow-Chair, New Cloath’d, An by William Somervile
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
- Sonnet 76: Why is my verse so barren of new pride? by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CVIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CVII: Not Mine Own Fears, Nor the Prophetic Soul by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CVII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CVI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CLIV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CLIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CLII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CLI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CL by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CIX by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CIV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet C by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 9: Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 98: From you have I been absent in the spring by William Shakespeare
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.