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:
- To Be Blind
- The Snake
- Stupid by Raymond Carver
- Василий Курочкин – Юмористическим чутьем
- Николай Языков – Подражание псалму XIV
- Outset by Mike Yuan
- Amarene by Rina Ferrarelli
- Never Again Would Bird’s Song Be The Same by Robert Frost
- On The Death Of Mrs. Throckmorton’s Bullfinch by William Cowper
- Rimini by Rudyard Kipling
- A Man Young And Old: VIII. Summer And Spring by William Butler Yeats
- A Riddle Song. by Walt Whitman
- Владислав Крапивин – Маленький принц
- Анатолий Жигулин – Калина
- Boots by Rudyard Kipling
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
- A PANEGYRIC TO SIR LEWIS PEMBERTON by Robert Herrick
- A New Year’s Gift, Sent To Sir Simeon Steward by Robert Herrick
- A MEDITATION FOR HIS MISTRESS by Robert Herrick
- A MEAN IN OUR MEANS by Robert Herrick
- A Lyric to Mirth by Robert Herrick
- A HYMN TO VENUS AND CUPID by Robert Herrick
- A HYMN TO THE GRACES by Robert Herrick
- A Hymn to Love by Robert Herrick
- A HYMN TO BACCHUS by Robert Herrick
- A Dialogue Betwixt Himself and Mistress Eliza Wheeler, under the Name of Amarillis by Robert Herrick
- A COUNTRY LIFE:TO HIS BROTHER, MR THOMAS HERRICK by Robert Herrick
- A Conjuration To Electra by Robert Herrick
- A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall by Robert Herrick
- A Child’s Grace by Robert Herrick
- A CANTICLE TO APOLLO by Robert Herrick
- A Bucolic Betwixt Two; Lacon and Thyrsis by Robert Herrick
- Under Cover of Night by Robert Desnos
- The Voice of Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos
- The Ring of Stars by Robert Desnos
- Sleep Spaces by Robert Desnos
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
