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.

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- Aubade by William Shakespeare
- The Weepen Leady by William Barnes
- Nocturno poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Омар Хайям – Лучше впасть в нищету, голодать или красть
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- Sonnet 10: For shame, deny that thou bear’st love to any by William Shakespeare
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- Новелла Матвеева – Двое (Баллада)
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- Hortus poem – Andrew Marvell poems
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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
- I am the earthworm, Lord of the Underworld by Raj Arumugam
- I am content here by Raj Arumugam
- How I saved Planet Earth by Raj Arumugam
- how far are you? by Raj Arumugam
- how did poetry begin? by Raj Arumugam
- Hey birds by Raj Arumugam
- Head of a Smiling Young Woman in Three-Quarter View by Raj Arumugam
- gum tree loved by the sky by Raj Arumugam
- good bye, my sweet angel by Raj Arumugam
- four legs good, two legs badOwl Hoots and Grasshopper Sings by Raj Arumugam
- four legs good, two legs bad by Raj Arumugam
- five moons for earth by Raj Arumugam
- Female ghost in the moonlight by Raj Arumugam
- emotional bond by Raj Arumugam
- doughnuts for sale by Raj Arumugam
- different lovers by Raj Arumugam
- did you die, Ophelia? by Raj Arumugam
- dear owl, forlorn like King Lear by Raj Arumugam
- dear moon, you will understand by Raj Arumugam
- days of quiet by Raj Arumugam
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