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:
- Chase, The – Book 1 by William Somervile
- Epigram on Francis Grose the Antiquary by Robert Burns
- Федор Сологуб – Выйди в поле полночное
- By The Fire
- Any Soul That Drank the Nectar by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Ione, Dead the Long Year poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Ellen Irwin Or The Braes Of Kirtle by William Wordsworth
- Гавриил Державин – Храповицкому (Храповицкий! дружбы знаки)
- The Emigrant
- Омар Хайям – Не выращивай в сердце печали росток
- Robert Burns: Sylvander To Clarinda: Extempore Reply to Verses addressed to the Author by a Lady, under the signature of “Clarinda” and entitled, On Burns saying he ‘had nothing else to do.’
- Christmas Star by Walter William Safar
- The Iliad: Book VI (excerpt) poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- ‘Blighters’ by Siegfried Sassoon
- Tiny Warrior by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
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
- Is There A Power That Can Sustain And Cheer by William Wordsworth
- Invocation To The Earth, February 1816 by William Wordsworth
- Inside of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge by William Wordsworth
- Inscriptions Written with a Slate Pencil upon a Stone by William Wordsworth
- Inscriptions In The Ground Of Coleorton, The Seat Of Sir George Beaumont, Bart., Leicestershire by William Wordsworth
- Inscriptions For A Seat In The Groves Of Coleorton by William Wordsworth
- Influence of Natural Objects by William Wordsworth
- Indignation Of A High-Minded Spaniard by William Wordsworth
- Incident Characteristic Of A Favorite Dog by William Wordsworth
- In The Pass Of Killicranky by William Wordsworth
- In Due Observance Of An Ancient Rite by William Wordsworth
- I Travelled among Unknown Men by William Wordsworth
- I Know an Aged Man Constrained to Dwell by William Wordsworth
- I Grieved For Buonaparte by William Wordsworth
- How Sweet It Is, When Mother Fancy Rocks by William Wordsworth
- Hoffer by William Wordsworth
- Hint From The Mountains For Certain Political Pretenders by William Wordsworth
- Here Pause: The Poet Claims At Least This Praise by William Wordsworth
- Her Eyes Are Wild by William Wordsworth
- Hart-Leap Well by William Wordsworth
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.