How will our unborn children scoff at us
In the good years to come,
The happier years to come,
Because, like driven sheep, we yielded thus,
Before the shearers dumb.
What are the words their wiser lips will say?
“These men had gained the light;
“These women knew the right;
“They had their chance, and let it slip away.
“They did not, when they might.
“They were the first to hear the gospel preached,
“And to believe therein;
“Yet they remained in sin.
“They saw the promised land they might have reached,
“And dared not enter in.
“They might have won their freedom, had they tried;
“No savage laws forbade;
“For them the way was made.
“They might have had the joys for which they cried
“And yet they shrank, afraid.
“Afraid to face-the martyr’s rack and flame?
“The traitor’s dungeon? Nay-
“Of what their world would say-
“The smile, the joke, the thinnest ghost of blame!
“Lord! Lord! What fools were they!”
And we-no longer actors of the stage
We cumber now-maybe
With other eyes shall see
This wasted chance, and with celestial rage
Cry “O what fools were we!”

A few random poems:
- The Prison Of The Past
- Федор Сологуб – Скупа Филис, но пыл мятежный
- A PANEGYRIC TO SIR LEWIS PEMBERTON by Robert Herrick
- Николай Заболоцкий – Гурзуф ночью
- Poems from Makiwane poem – Amitabh Mitra poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Poet’s Epitaph by William Wordsworth
- Sometimes….Life’s A Beach by Stevens Cadet
- Николай Языков – Песня (Я жду тебя, когда вечерней мглою)
- The Epic Menageries by MB Moshe
- Владимир Корнилов – Зачем
- Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Sonnet 31: Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts by William Shakespeare
- If By Chance Your Eye Offend You poem – A. E. Housman
- La Gitana poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Юнна Мориц – Дышать любовью, пить её, как воздух
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
- Come up from the Fields, Father. by Walt Whitman
- City of Ships. by Walt Whitman
- City of Orgies. by Walt Whitman
- City Dead-House, The. by Walt Whitman
- Chanting the Square Deific. by Walt Whitman
- Centenarian’s Story, The. by Walt Whitman
- Cavalry Crossing a Ford. by Walt Whitman
- Carol of Words. by Walt Whitman
- Carol of Occupations. by Walt Whitman
- Camps of Green. by Walt Whitman
- By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame. by Walt Whitman
- By Broad Potomac’s Shore. by Walt Whitman
- Brother of All, with Generous Hand. by Walt Whitman
- Bivouac on a Mountain Side. by Walt Whitman
- Behold this Swarthy Face. by Walt Whitman
- Behavior. by Walt Whitman
- Beginning my Studies. by Walt Whitman
- Beginners. by Walt Whitman
- Beautiful Women. by Walt Whitman
- Beat! Beat! Drums! by Walt Whitman
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
Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.