Be still, my heart, and listen,
For sweet and yet acute
I hear the wistful music
Of Khristna and his flute.
Across the cool, blue evenings,
Throughout the burning days,
Persuasive and beguiling,
He plays and plays and plays.
Ah, none may hear such music
Resistant to its charms,
The household work grows weary,
And cold the husband’s arms.
I must arise and follow,
To seek, in vain pursuit,
The blueness and the distance,
The sweetness of that flute!
In linked and liquid sequence,
The plaintive notes dissolve
Divinely tender secrets
That none but he can solve.
Oh, Khristna, I am coming,
I can no more delay.
“My heart has flown to join thee,”
How can my footsteps stay?
Beloved, such thoughts have peril;
The wish is in my mind
That I had fired the jungle,
And left no leaf behind,–
Burnt all bamboos to ashes,
And made their music mute,–
To save thee from the magic
Of Khristna and his flute.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Маяковский – Серые! К вам орем вниз мы… (РОСТА №313)
- His Dream by William Butler Yeats
- Drinking While Driving by Raymond Carver
- Making It Work by Philip Levine
- Slumber-Song by Siegfried Sassoon
- An Invitation
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Перевал
- Civilian and Soldier by Wole Soyinka
- In Imitation of Spenser : The Alley poem – Alexander Pope
- The Spring passing away by Shailendra Chauhan
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Пытки
- Panic
- Карл Сэндберг – Анекдот о цикуте для двух афинян
- Interregnum by Weldon Kees
- Василий Жуковский – Тоска по милом
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
- Владимир Степанов – Почему не спят котята?
- Владимир Степанов – Осы
- Владимир Степанов – Ослик
- Владимир Степанов – Облако-овечка
- Владимир Степанов – Неваляшка (Буква Н)
- Владимир Степанов – Наша Армия
- Владимир Степанов – Мышь и кошка
- Владимир Степанов – Мишка (Буква М)
- Владимир Степанов – Масленица
- Владимир Степанов – Лисички
- Владимир Степанов – Кто хозяин
- Владимир Степанов – Кот
- Владимир Степанов – Конкурс красоты
- Владимир Степанов – Как живете? Что жуете?
- Владимир Степанов – Гусь и цыплёнок
- Владимир Степанов – Гном (Буква Г)
- Владимир Степанов – Галочка-считалочка
- Владимир Степанов – Эскимос (Буква Э)
- Владимир Степанов – Енот (Буква Е)
- Владимир Степанов – Двенадцать месяцев
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.