Far in the Further East the skilful craftsman
Fashioned this fancy for the West’s delight.
This rose and azure Dragon, crouching softly
Upon the satin skin, close-grained and white.
And you lay silent, while his slender needles
Pricked the intricate pattern on your arm,
Combining deftly Cruelty and Beauty,
That subtle union, whose child is charm.
Charm irresistible: the lovely something
We follow in our dreams, but may not reach.
The unattainable Divine Enchantment,
Hinted in music, never heard in speech.
This from the blue design exhales towards me,
As incense rises from the Homes of Prayer,
While the unfettered eyes, allured and rested,
Urge the forbidden lips to stoop and share;
Share in the sweetness of the rose and azure
Traced in the Dragon’s form upon the white
Curve of the arm. Ah, curb thyself, my fancy,
Where would’st thou drift in this enchanted flight?
A few random poems:
- The Lover Pleads With His Friend For Old Friends by William Butler Yeats
- Prayer—O Thou Dread Power by Robert Burns
- In The Arc Of Your Mallet by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Holiday Letter For A Poet Gone To War
- Resolved Be Loved
- Boots by Rudyard Kipling
- Whitsun by Sylvia Plath
- Orlando Furioso Canto 14 by Ludovico Ariosto
- Как жаль, что много лет назад
- Ок Мельникова – Вечные ценности
- Paying The Captain by Russell Edson
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мог бы быть я при тёще, при тесте
- Gorgeous Surfaces by Thomas Lux
- Farewell
- Альфред де Мюссе – Майская ночь
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
- Николай Рубцов – Зимняя песня
- Николай Рубцов – Жеребенок
- Николай Рубцов – Загородил мою дорогу
- Николай Рубцов – Я тебя целовал
- Николай Рубцов – Хороший улов
- Николай Рубцов – Возвращение из рейса
- Николай Рубцов – Воробей
- Николай Рубцов – Ветер всхлипывал, словно дитя
- Николай Рубцов – Весна на берегу Бии
- Николай Огарев – Я сорвал ветку кипариса
- Николай Огарев – Хандра
- Николай Огарев – Выпьем, что ли, Ваня
- Николай Огарев – В прогулке поздней видел я
- Николай Огарев – Тебе я счастья не давал довольно
- Николай Огарев – Свисти ты, о ветер, с бессонною силой
- Николай Огарев – Смутные мгновенья
- Николай Огарев – С полуночи ветер холодный подул
- Николай Огарев – Расстались мы
- Николай Огарев – Прощанье с краем, откуда не уезжал
- Николай Огарев – Предисловие к колоколу
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

Violet Nicolson ( 1865 – 1904); otherwise known as Adela Florence Nicolson (née Cory), was an English poetess who wrote under the pseudonym of Laurence Hope, however she became known as Violet Nicolson. In the early 1900s, she became a best-selling author. She committed suicide and is buried in Madras, now Chennai, India.