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:
- Second Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry by Robert Burns
- Arrow through the bellybutton poem
- My Love Is Good by William Barnes
- Иван Киуру – Кот и жук
- Sleep by Rabindranath Tagore
- Наум Коржавин – Легкость
- Sonnet LXIII by William Shakespeare
- Кондратий Рылеев – Палей
- The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No by Shel Silverstein
- Ghouls’ Parade poem – Brako Attafua poems | Poetry Monster
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Осеннее золото
- Sonnet CXI by William Shakespeare
- On The Astrologers (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Ghazal 314 by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Алишер Навои – Осрамился я
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
- Arrival by William Carlos Williams
- April Is The Saddest Month by William Carlos Williams
- Après le Bain by William Carlos Williams
- Approach Of Winter by William Carlos Williams
- A Sort Of A Song by William Carlos Williams
- A Goodnight by William Carlos Williams
- A Celebration by William Carlos Williams
- Women And Roses by Robert Browning
- Venus, on a fur by Witty Fay
- Ultima Thule by William Ellery Leonard
- To the Victor by William Ellery Leonard
- The Image Of Delight by William Ellery Leonard
- The First Part: Sonnet 5 – How that vast heaven intitled First is roll’d, by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 4 – Fair is my yoke, though grievous be my pains, by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 3 – Ye who so curiously do paint your thoughts, by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 2 – I know that all beneath the moon decays by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 14 – Nor Arne, nor Mincius, nor stately Tiber, by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 13 – O sacred blush, impurpling cheeks’ pure skies by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 12 – Ah! burning thoughts, now let me take some rest, by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 11 – Lamp of heaven’s crystal hall that brings the hours, by William Drummond
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.