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:
- Sonnet 112: Your love and pity doth th’ impression fill by William Shakespeare
- Илья Эренбург – Я так любил тебя, до грубых шуток
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “Irish Melodies”. 85. Oh For the Swords of Former Time. Томас Мур.
- Even The Rain
- The useless counsellor by Ross D Tyler
- Old Tom Again by William Butler Yeats
- To a Lady with an Unruly and Ill-mannered Dog Who Bit several Persons of Importance by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Владимир Маяковский – Совет Труда и Обороны сделал ассигнование миллионное… ( Главполитпросвет №64)
- A Poem Upon The Death Of O.C. poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- A prayer to the Wind by Thomas Carew
- The People by William Butler Yeats
- The Smiles Of The Bathers by Weldon Kees
- Is Hiring a Resume Writer Really Worth It?
- phantasm.html
- Westward on the High-Hilled Plains poem – A. E. Housman
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
- The Voice by Sara Teasdale
- The Unseen by Sara Teasdale
- The Unchanging by Sara Teasdale
- The Tree by Sara Teasdale
- The Tree Of Song by Sara Teasdale
- The Treasure by Sara Teasdale
- The Storm by Sara Teasdale
- The Star by Sara Teasdale
- The Song Maker by Sara Teasdale
- The Song For Colin by Sara Teasdale
- The Solitary by Sara Teasdale
- The Silent Battle by Sara Teasdale
- The Shrine by Sara Teasdale
- The Sea Wind by Sara Teasdale
- The Sanctuary by Sara Teasdale
- The Rose by Sara Teasdale
- The Rose And The Bee by Sara Teasdale
- The River by Sara Teasdale
- The Return by Sara Teasdale
- The Princess In The Tower by Sara Teasdale
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