“Friend,” quoth Lord Nevil, “thou art young
To face the world, and thou art blind
To subtle ways of womankind;
The meshes thou wilt fall among.
“Take an old married man’s advice;
Use the experience I have earned;
Watch well where women are concerned,-
They’re not all birds of paradise!
“Be circumspect, or thou mayst fall;
Abjure a blind faith-nay, trust none-
Till thou hast chosen, proven one;
Then trust her truly-trust in all.
“Keep a calm brain and quiet eye,
And watch. The doll of powder and paint,
The flirt, the artificial saint,
The loud man-woman pass them by.
“The innocent one, who craves thy cares
To shield her from life’s fret and fray;
Lad, watch her-maybe she’ll betray
Some doubtful knowledge, unawares.
“The pensive one, who droops and sighs-
Wait till her dreaming comes to test;
Be gentle, yet be wary, lest
‘Tis but a graceful grey disguise.
“The world-wise husband-hunter-she
Who knows no love but love of gold,
And lands and titles-empty, cold,-
Pity her, lad, and let her be.
“And the rich heiress-let her pass.
Belike she’s stupid, drugged with wealth,
And just enjoys her life and health
As some fat cow in clover grass.
“Or insolent with prosperity,
Unsharpened, shallow, unrefined;-
And thou art poor, and thou wilt mind
That proud blood cometh down to thee.
“The gushing gossip-she who rains
Incessant chatter in thine ears;-
She may be worth thy keenest fears,
She may be simply lacking brains,
“And lacking grace and modesty.
She will make mischief, at the best;
She may be wily, like the rest;
Keep thy tongue still when she is by.
“They that would master thee, if they could,
In brain and muscle-flaring lights-
The clamorous for false woman’s rights;-
Snub them, my friend-it does them good-
“And do not think of them for wives.
Fit mates for such seem somewhat rare;
But when two odd ones make a pair,
They spoil at least four precious lives.
“But shouldst thou chance to meet a girl
With brave, bright eyes, that front thee straight,
A kindly tongue that does not prate,
And quiet lips that cannot curl;
“With fine sense, quick to understand,
With dignity that is not cold,
Sweet, sunny mirth that is not bold,
A ready ear, a willing hand;
“One skilled in household arts, and skilled
In little courteous, graceful ways,
That make no show and win no praise-
Wherewith discordant jars are stilled:
“One who will never touch a sore;
One who sheds sunshine round about,
And draws life’s hidden comfort out;
One whom the boys and babes adore:
“One with an intellect to reach
The highest range that thou canst rise;
Who will aye help thee, woman-wise,
And yet not set herself to teach:
“One of whom women love to speak,
In honest kindness, and whose name
Men let alone; whose chiefest fame
Lies hidden where men may not seek;-
“Friend, woo her, as a good knight can,
And win her. Lay thou at her feet
Faith, love, and honour, true and sweet;
And count thyself a happy man.”
A few random poems:
- Нина Гаген-Торн – Тихо пальцы опускаю
- Fortune-Hunter, The – Canto 1 by William Somervile
- Elegy on the Death of Sir James Hunter Blair by Robert Burns
- Private Property poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Ольга Седакова – Путешествие волхвов
- Peace by William Butler Yeats
- Failure by Rupert Brooke
- Zen-moment by Sunil Sharma
- Faith by John Oxenham
- The Cat’s Song by Marge Piercy
- In a Subway Station by Sara Teasdale
- Николай Гумилев – Ночь
- Finding freedom from invisible bonds by Sunil Sharma
- Fareweel To A’Our Scottish Fame by Robert Burns
- To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant
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
- Spain 1873–’74. by Walt Whitman
- Souvenirs of Democracy. by Walt Whitman
- Song of the Universal. by Walt Whitman
- Song of the Redwood-Tree. by Walt Whitman
- Song of the Open Road. by Walt Whitman
- Song of the Exposition. by Walt Whitman
- Song of the Broad-Axe. by Walt Whitman
- Song for All Seas, All Ships. by Walt Whitman
- Song at Sunset. by Walt Whitman
- Sometimes with One I Love. by Walt Whitman
- Solid, Ironical, Rolling Orb. by Walt Whitman
- Sobbing of The Bells, The. by Walt Whitman
- So Long. by Walt Whitman
- So Far and So Far, and on Toward the End. by Walt Whitman
- The Sleepers by Walt Whitman
- Singer in the Prison, The. by Walt Whitman
- Sing of the Banner at Day-Break. by Walt Whitman
- Shut Not Your Doors, &c. by Walt Whitman
- Ship Starting, The. by Walt Whitman
- Scented Herbage of My Breast. 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.