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:
- Chloris in the Snow by William Strode
- The Lover Pleads With His Friend For Old Friends by William Butler Yeats
- Whitsuntide An’ Club Walken by William Barnes
- Beach Glass poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Jilted by Sylvia Plath
- Funeral Day Thoughts by Sudheesh Vs
- Religious Obsession — translation from Dharmamoha by Rabindranath Tagore
- Федор Сологуб – Снова саваны надели
- Monster’s Cave
- Love
- The Gardener LXXVI: The Fair Was On by Rabindranath Tagore
- Николай Карамзин – Две песни
- To Dr. MReading Mathmatics by William Somervile
- Term by W. S. Merwin
- Prophets at Home by Rudyard Kipling
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
- Ольга Седакова – Баллада
- Ольга Седакова – Азаровка
- Ольга Седакова – Ангел Реймса
- Ольга Седакова – Актеон
- Ольга Повещенко – Фотограф смотрит в объектив
- Ольга Ермолаева – За Волгой, ударившись озем
- Ольга Ермолаева – Я так же, как ты, от стыда опускаю ресницы
- Ольга Ермолаева – Всю эту печаль невозможно вместить целиком
- Ольга Ермолаева – Вот сойдешь с ума и станешь Юрия
- Ольга Ермолаева – В кирзовых сапогах скользить по горной глине
- Ольга Ермолаева – Ты где летал, мой падающий с Фанских гор
- Ольга Ермолаева – Симферопольский скорый
- Ольга Ермолаева – Псевдоготика для русских романтических сердец
- Ольга Ермолаева – Просила тебя у мертвой и выпросила у мертвой
- Ольга Ермолаева – Напиши мне стишок
- Ольга Ермолаева – На каблуках-то и то к голове удалой
- Ольга Ермолаева – Мир неприбран, подозрителен
- Ольга Ермолаева – Когда распрямлюсь, озирая работу мою
- Ольга Ермолаева – Герасим Грачевник
- Ольга Ермолаева – Этот позорный ужас
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
