Looking Fire

The snow falls soft and thick. My cedar bough

Sways up and down, and scratches on the glass.

The wind sighs in the chimney, as I sit,

With elbows on my knees, before the fire,

Resting a crumpled chin in hollow’d palms.

There is great trouble in the cold and dark;

And other girls shrink off and steal away,

To crouch in lonely rooms and look at fires,

And look at their dead joys and living griefs,-

But they are pitied. None would pity me.

Friends come to seek them, and lay tender hands

On their bow’d heads and sore and restless hearts.

They find the wound, and drop the healing oil;

They lift the burden off, or make it light.

But they would smile, unless they laugh’d, at mine.

O still, warm fire, you will not bubble up

In mocking flames,-your heart will soon be cold!

O wind-for you have seen the roses bloom,

And the shrunk petals fall and drift away-

You hear, and sob and sigh as you go past!

Is unrequited love so sad a thing?

Ay, ay,-but this is even sadder still;

To want to love, and not to have the power-

To meet your king at last with empty hands-

To be so young, and to have squander’d all!

Alas, alas! to know your wine is sour-

To have loved wrong, with love despoil’d of trust,

Dishonour’d love, that mix’d itself with hate,-

To see the pearl of price laid at your feet,

And know your wealth is gone for dross and lies!

Ay, ’tis the saddest thing to want to love,

To want to cling, when you have lost your strength-

To feel the ashes choking up the hearth,

And think how bright a fire there might have been,-

To know when you are loved, too late-too late!

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Иван Бунин – Не видно птиц by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – За рекой луга зазеленели by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Надпись на могильной плите by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Богиня by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Безнадежность by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Беру твою руку и долго смотрю by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Балагула by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Апрель by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Алёнушка by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Пустыня, грусть в степных просторах by Иван Бунин
• Иван Барков – Выбор by Иван Барков
• Иван Барков – Вопрос без ответу by Иван Барков
• Иван Барков – Венерино оружие by Иван Барков
• Иван Барков – Улика подьячего by Иван Барков
• Иван Барков – Торжественным воротам by Иван Барков
• Иван Барков – Стихи с матом без цензуры: читать матерные нецензурные стихотворения Баркова – Poetry Monster by Иван Барков
• Исикава Такубоку – Дом by Takuboku (Такубоку) Ishikawa (Исикава) 石川 啄木
• Ирина Токмакова – Каша by Поэзия На Русском
• Иосиф Бродский – Бюст Тиберия by Иосиф Бродский
• Иосиф Бродский – Буров тракторист by Иосиф Бродский

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works