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:
- Robert Burns: The Highland Widow’s Lament :
- I see the Four-fold Man by William Blake
- Владимир Британишский – Наш учитель истории
- I Will Sing You One-O by Robert Frost
- In September poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Old Ladies’ Home by Sylvia Plath
- Prophets at Home by Rudyard Kipling
- The Battle of an National Icon by Norma Martiri
- Decalogue poem – by Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- All-Accomplished Rover by William Somervile
- Юнна Мориц – Цветок
- Annan Water poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Огюст Барбье – Мельпомена
- Belle Isle, 1949 by Philip Levine
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Вьющееся растение
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 LI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet L by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet IX by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet IV: Unthrifty Loveliness, Why Dost Thou Spend by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet IV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet III: Look In Thy Glass, and Tell the Face Thou Viewest by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet III by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet II: When Forty Winters Shall Besiege Thy Brow by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet II by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet I: From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet I by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXVIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXVII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXVI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXIX by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXIV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXXXI 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.