A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Semichorus.
Oh Tyrant Love! hast thou possest
The prudent, learn’d, and virtuous breast?
Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,
And Arts but soften us to feel thy flame.
Love, soft intruder, enters here,
But ent’ring learns to be sincere.
Marcus with blushes owns he loves,
And Brutus tenderly reproves.
Why, Virtue, dost thou blame desire,
Which Nature has imprest?
Why, Nature, dost thou soonest fire
The mild and gen’rous breast?
Chorus.
Love’s purer flames the Gods approve;
The Gods and Brutus bent to love:
Brutus for absent Portia sighs,
And sterner Cassius melts at Junia’s eyes.
What is loose love? a transient gust,
Spent in a sudden storm of lust,
A vapour fed from wild desire,
A wand’ring, self-consuming fire,
But Hymen’s kinder flames unite;
And burn for ever one;
Chaste as cold Cynthia’s virgin light,
Productive as the Sun.
Semichorus.
Oh source of ev’ry social tie,
United wish, and mutual joy!
What various joys on one attend,
As son, as father, brother husband, friend?
Whether his hoary sire he spies,
While thousand grateful thoughts arise;
Or meets his spouse’s fonder eye;
Or views his smiling progeny;
What tender passions take their turns,
What home-felt raptures move?
His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns,
With rev’rence, hope, and love.
Chorus.
Hence guilty joys, distastes, surmises,
Hence false tears, deceits, disguises,
Dangers, doubts, delays, surprises;
Fires that scorch, yet dare not shine
Purest love’s unwasting treasure,
Constant faith, fair hope, long leisure,
Days of ease, and nights of pleasure;
Sacred Hymen! these are thine.
A few random poems:
- A March Day in London poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- To Sr Henry Vane The Younger poem – John Milton poems
- The Frantic by Mark Miller
- Николай Гумилев – На берегу моря
- Юнна Мориц – На смерть Джульетты
- Five Songs – II by W H Auden
- I Hardly Remember by Rafael Guillen
- Song Of Jasoda
- Whoever Comes From The Earth by Nelly Sachs
- On The Death Of A Fair Infant Dying Of A Cough poem – John Milton poems
- A REQUEST TO THE GRACES by Robert Herrick
- June by William Cullen Bryant
- Иван Бунин – Не видно птиц
- Epilogue poem – Ezra Pound poems
- V by Tony Harrison
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
- Parabola
- Observation Car
- Morning Coffee
- Meditation on a Bone
- Easter Hymn
- Death of the Bird
- Crossing the Frontier
- Conquistador
- Commination
- Australia
- Winter Dream poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Waking poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Vision poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Valedictory poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Topiary poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Reef poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Louse-Hunters poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Life Theoretic poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Flowers poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Elms poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
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
