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 

• Алексей Плещеев – Цветок by Алексей Плещеев
• Алексей Плещеев – Бабушка и внучек by Алексей Плещеев
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Золото by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Земля by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Хлоя by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Весенний дождь by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Утро by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Талисман by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Суд by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Семик by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Приворот by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Плач by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Осеннее золото by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Москва by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Лесная дева by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Лель by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Купальские игрища by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Колыбельная by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Гроза by Алексей Толстой
• Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Егорий, волчий пастырь by Алексей Толстой

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