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:
- Нина Стожкова – Подарки деда Мороза
- SOVEREIGNTY by Satish Verma
- Fields and Gardens by the River Qi by Wang Wei
- Picture Puzzle Piece by Shel Silverstein
- Валерий Брюсов – Германия (отрывки)
- Robert Burns: Lines To Mr. John Kennedy:
- The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
- The Scholars by William Butler Yeats
- Hobbinol; or The Rural Games – Canto 2 by William Somervile
- Impromtu On Ogareva poem – Alexander Pushkin
- L’Envoi by Rudyard Kipling
- The Rabbit Catcher by Sylvia Plath
- Obdurant men, the worst of the abstinant by Miles
- The Return poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Golden Year! poem – Alfred Austin
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
- Denner’s Old Woman by William Cowper
- On The Death Of The Vice-Chancellor, A Physician (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper
- Catharina : The Second Part. On Her Marriage To George Courtenay, Esq. by William Cowper
- By Philemon by William Cowper
- By Moschus by William Cowper
- By Heraclides by William Cowper
- By Callimachus by William Cowper
- On the Burning of Lord Mansfield’s Library by William Cowper
- Boadicea. An Ode by William Cowper
- Aspirations Of The Soul After God by William Cowper
- Apology to Delia by William Cowper
- Anti-Thelyphthora. A Tale In Verse by William Cowper
- Answer To Stanzas Addressed To Lady Hesketh By Miss Catharine Fanshawe, In Returning A Poem by William Cowper
- Annus Memorabilis : Written in Commemoration of His Majesty’s Happy Recovery by William Cowper
- An Ode, On Reading Mr. Richardson’s History Of Sir Charles Grandison by William Cowper
- An Epitaph by William Cowper
- An Epitaph (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- An Epitaph 4 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- An Epitaph 3 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- An Epitaph 2 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
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