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:
- Эмиль Верхарн – Восстание
- Memoriam A. H. H.: 44. How fares it with the happy dead? poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Olney Hymn 47: The Hidden Life by William Cowper
- On the Religious Memory of Mrs. Catherine Thomson, my Christian Friend, Deceased Dec. 16, 1646 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 136: If thy soul check thee that I come so near by William Shakespeare
- A Ballad That We Do Not Perish poem – Zbigniew Herbert poems | Poetry Monster
- Ruth by William Wordsworth
- Kadambari by Raj Arumugam
- A Tale of Two Cities by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Набоков – Путь
- The Rhyme of the Three Sealers by Rudyard Kipling
- Алексей Толстой – Уж ласточки, кружась, над крышей щебетали
- Christmas Star by Walter William Safar
- You Must n’t Swim… by Rudyard Kipling
- In the Carpenter’s Shop by Sara Teasdale
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
- Яков Полонский – Одному из усталых
- Яков Полонский – Ночная дума
- Яков Полонский – Ночь в Крыму
- Яков Полонский – Ночь на восточном берегу Черного моря
- Яков Полонский – Нищий
- Яков Полонский – Неотвязная
- Яков Полонский – Не жди
- Яков Полонский – Наплывает туча с моря
- Яков Полонский – На Женевском озере
- Яков Полонский – На закате
- Яков Полонский – На пути
- Яков Полонский – На искусе
- Яков Полонский – Н. А. Грибоедова
- Юлий Даниэль – Друзьям
- Юлий Даниэль – Дом
- Юлий Даниэль – Часовой
- Юлий Даниэль – Ах, недостреляли, недобили
- Юлий Даниэль – А в это время
- Юлиан Анисимов – Весенний дождь
- Юлиан Анисимов – Стихи мои, нежные гости
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.