A poem by Alistar Crowley (1875-1947)
[Dedicated to G. M. Marston]
Pale as the night that pales
In the dawn’s pearl-pure pavillion,
I wait for thee, with my dove’s breast
Shuddering, a god its bitter guest-
Have I not gilded my nails
And painted my lips with vermillion ?
Am I not wholly stript
Of the deeds and thoughts that obscure thee?
I wait for thee, my soul distraught
With aching for some nameless naught
In its most arcane crypt-
Am I not fit to endure thee?
Girded about the paps
With a golden girdle of glory,
Dost thou wait me, thy slave who am,
As a wolf lurks for a strayed white lamb?
The chain of the stars snaps,
And the deep of night is hoary!
Thou whose mouth is a flame
With its seven-edged sword proceeding,
Come ! I am writhing with despair
Like a snake taken in a snare,
Moaning thy mystical name
Till my tongue is torn and bleeding!
Have I not gilded my nails
And painted my lips with vermillion?
Yea ! thou art I; the deed awakes,
Thy lightening strikes; thy thunder breaks
Wild as the bride that wails
In the bridegroom’s plumed pavillion!

A few random poems:
- If Death Is Kind by Sara Teasdale
- On The Astrologers (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Константин Батюшков – Мечта
- Владимир Высоцкий – Снова печь барахлит, тут рублей не жалей
- What Peace Is Like
- Жан де Лафонтен – Безумец и Мудрец
- Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time by William Shakespeare
- Xai Kou1
- Sappho to Phaon (Ovid Heroid XV) poem – Alexander Pope
- Keeping Going by Seamus Heaney
- Night Light by Satish Verma
- Grace Before Song poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Омар Хайям – Неправ, кто думает, что бог неумолим
- Олег Григорьев – Был праздник с весельем и танцами
- Владимир Набоков – Спроси у хрустальной луны
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
- Reason Use It Divine Matters
- Reason The Use Of It In Divine Matters
- Platonick Love
- On The Death Of Sir Henry Wootton
- On The Death Of Mr William Hervey
- On The Death Of Mr Crashaw
- Of Wit
- Not Fair
- Life
- Hymn To Light
- Hymn Light
- Epitaph
- Despair
- Death Sir Henry Wootton
- Davideis Sacred Poem Troubles David Excerpt
- Davideis A Sacred Poem Of The Troubles Of David Excerpt
- Cousel
- Constantias Song
- Constantia039s Song
- Concealment
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