Meditation on a Bone

A piece of bone, found at Trondhjem in 1901, with the following runic inscription (about A.D. 1050) cut on it: I loved her as a maiden; I will not trouble Erlend’s detestable wife; better she should be a widow.

Words scored upon a bone,

Scratched in despair or rage —

Nine hundred years have gone;

Now, in another age,

They burn with passion on

A scholar’s tranquil page.

The scholar takes his pen

And turns the bone about,

And writes those words again.

Once more they seethe and shout

And through a human brain

Undying hate rings out.

“I loved her when a maid;

I loathe and love the wife

That warms another’s bed:

Let him beware his life!”

The scholar’s hand is stayed;

His pen becomes a knife

To grave in living bone

The fierce archaic cry.

He sits and reads his own

Dull sum of misery.

A thousand years have flown

Before that ink is dry.

And, in a foreign tongue,

A man, who is not he,

Reads and his heart is wrung

This ancient grief to see,

And thinks: When I am dung,

What bone shall speak for me?

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 

• Olney Hymn 50: The Christian by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 5: Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord Send Peace by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 48: Joy And Peace In Believing by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 47: The Hidden Life by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 45: The Happy Change by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 43: Prayer For Patience by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 40: Peace After A Storm by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 4: Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord My Banner by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 39: The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 38: Looking Upwards In A Storm by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 36: Afflictions Sanctified By The Word by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 34: The Waiting Soul by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 33: Seeking The Beloved by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 32: The Shining Light by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 31: On The Death Of A Minister by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 30: The Light And Glory Of The Word by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 3: Jehovah-Rophi: I Am the Lord That Healeth Thee by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 29: Exhortation To Prayer by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 28: Jesus Hasting To Suffer by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 27: Welcome To The Table by William Cowper by William Cowper

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