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:
- Robert Burns: The Twa Herds; Or, The Holy Tulyie: An Unco Mournfu’ Tale
- Юлий Даниэль – Часовой
- The Ugly Little Bird
- Такахама Кёси – О, как ночь коротка
- The End poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Of Clementina by Walter Savage Landor
- Lines to an Old Sweetheart by Robert Burns
- Attack On The Ad-Man
- An ode to you by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Приворот
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Бедняк
- Now Finale to the Shore. by Walt Whitman
- Николай Языков – Валдайский узник
- The Woods At Night by May Swenson
- Николай Заболоцкий – Ночь в лесу
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
- Валерий Брюсов – Город сестер любви видение
- Валерий Брюсов – Голубое, голубое
- Валерий Брюсов – Голос мертвого
- Валерий Брюсов – Голос иных миров
- Валерий Брюсов – К портрету Лермонтова
- Валерий Брюсов – К портрету К.Д. Бальмонта
- Валерий Брюсов – К Пасифае. Сонет
- Валерий Брюсов – К народу
- Валерий Брюсов – К моей стране
- Валерий Брюсов – К финскому народу
- Валерий Брюсов – К.Д. Бальмонту (Вечно вольный, вечно юный)
- Валерий Брюсов – К.Д. Бальмонту (Как прежде, мы вдвоем, в ночном кафе. За входом)
- Валерий Брюсов – К большой медведице
- Валерий Брюсов – К Бальмонту (Погасни, исчезни)
- Валерий Брюсов – К Армении
- Валерий Брюсов – К Адалис
- Валерий Брюсов – К.А. Коровину (Душа твоя, быть может, ослепительней)
- Валерий Брюсов – Из-за облака скользящий
- Валерий Брюсов – Из тихих бездн
- Валерий Брюсов – Из песен Мальдуна
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