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:
- Николай Огарев – Я сорвал ветку кипариса
- Владимир Британишский – Екатеринбургский модерн
- Yasin Khan
- Tell Me a Story by Robert Penn Warren
- Hughley Steeple poem – A. E. Housman
- Ad Nepotem by Robert Louis Stevenson
- An Epitaph Upon A Virgin by Robert Herrick
- On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations by Robert Frost
- Orlando Furioso Canto 18 by Ludovico Ariosto
- There Is No Breeze To Cool The Heat Of Love
- What is Poetry? by Mark Olynyk
- Far Within Us #7 by Vasko Popa
- Стефан Малларме – Записка Уистлеру
- Robert Burns: Bonie Peg-a-Ramsay:
- Владимир Британишский – Багульник, ельник, изволоки, взгорья
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 Leaders Of The Crowd by William Butler Yeats
- The Lamentation Of The Old Pensioner by William Butler Yeats
- The Lake Isle Of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats
- The Lady’s Third Song by William Butler Yeats
- The Lady’s Second Song by William Butler Yeats
- The Lady’s First Song by William Butler Yeats
- The Indian Upon God by William Butler Yeats
- The Indian To His Love by William Butler Yeats
- The Hour Before Dawn by William Butler Yeats
- To A Child Dancing In The Wind by William Butler Yeats
- Three Songs To The One Burden by William Butler Yeats
- These Are The Clouds by William Butler Yeats
- The Withering Of The Boughs by William Butler Yeats
- The Wheel by William Butler Yeats
- The Wanderings of Oisin: Book II by William Butler Yeats
- The Wanderings of Oisin: Book I by William Butler Yeats
- The Travail Of Passion by William Butler Yeats
- The Three Monuments by William Butler Yeats
- The Three Beggars by William Butler Yeats
- The Statues by William Butler Yeats
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