At Long Last

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.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Ольга Берггольц – Озерный край by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Ответ by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – От сердца к сердцу by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Осень (Мне осень озёрного края) by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Она дарить любила by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Огонь, и воду, и медные трубы by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Обещание by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – О, наверное, он не вернётся by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – О, где ты запела by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – О да, простые, бедные слова by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Новогодний тост by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Ни до серебряной и ни до золотой by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Не знаю, не знаю, живу by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Не сына, не младшего брата by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Не может быть, чтоб жили мы напрасно by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Наш сад by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Нам от тебя теперь не оторваться by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Надежда by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – На Ивана-пьющего by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Моя медаль by Ольга Берггольц

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works