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:
- My Sad Self poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Sonnet 103: Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth by William Shakespeare
- A New Song by Thomas Chatterton
- Other by Robert Creeley
- Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes
- Grass is a taut crew; poem – Amy Michelle Mosier poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Маяковский – Два гренадера и один адмирал
- Autumn Day by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Владимир Маяковский – Заграничная штучка
- Farewell by Rabindranath Tagore
- Entropy by Sriparna Bandyopadhyay
- Эмиль Верхарн – Здравствуй, подруга
- Владимир Маяковский – В мире два класса… (РОСТА №501)
- The Nineteenth Century And After by William Butler Yeats
- Иван Демьянов – Парикмахер рак-омар
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
- time by tulip
- The Sound Of Music -a Ghazal by Umamaheswari Anandane
- the secrets , we hide by tulip
- The Tears In Cupid’s Eyes by Tupac Shakur
- The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
- said, unsaid by tulip
- Quest for Thee by Vanessa Perkins
- Paradise On Earth! by V. Muthu Manickam
- Overnight at the Riverside Tower by Tu Fu
- once i saw a old man’s shop by tulip
- On a Prospect of T’ai-shan by Tu Fu
- Morning Rain by Tu Fu
- Moonlit Night by Tu Fu
- Tu Fu – Tu Fu
- Tu Fu – Tu Fu
- In The Event Of My Demise by Tupac Shakur
- In The Depths Of Solitude by Tupac Shakur
- Gazing at the Sacred Peak by Tu Fu
- Full Moon by Tu Fu
- Fallen Star: Dedicated to Huey P. Newton by Tupac Shakur
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
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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