“He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him a long life, even for ever and ever.”
Life-length of days-the time to work and strive
In his Lord’s vineyard; to bring heavenly light
Into the drear, dark places of the earth,
And make them fair and fruitful in His sight.
Life-it seem’d all so bright and beautiful once!
It lay spread out before his kindling eyes,
A land of sunny hills, in white mist veil’d,
Of sweet green valleys under summer skies.
Such tender light and tender shadows there!
No dazzling blaze, no savage blots of gloom,
No keen-cut outline of the barren cliff,
No glaring waste,-but all one gentle bloom
Of happy, innocent hope,-a morning tint
Of pearly grey and gold, with just a shade
Of bright cloud-colour, giving life to it,-
He saw not then the havoc death had made.
But soon the white mist melted in the heat
Of noonday, and the wasted fields lay bare-
Vineyard of Eden-like a bright face, scarred
With sin and shame and weariness and care.
And his vague aspiration took a shape.
“Grant me, dear Lord, if it seem good to Thee,
To labour here, with manhood’s utter strength,-
O Lord, good Lord, intrust this work to me!
“Let me have time to toil-a long, long day-
To dig and delve and root out wasteful weeds,
To cut down briars and thorns, and help to plough
Furrows where angels may sow heavenly seeds.
“Give me to foster, with my faith and love,
Frail, early flowers, that fear to droop and fade!
Father, I will not shrink for bleeding hands,
For heat nor cold-I do not feel afraid!”
His voice was heard-his will accepted. God
Gave deep and true fulfilment to his prayer,-
Life-life eternal, which should nevermore
The taint of death, or sin, or sorrow bear!
Oh pray, ye blind ones, as the beggar pray’d
When He of Nazareth pass’d by! Oh pray
With simple faith and worship,-fear ye not
God’s gracious ear will deafly turn away.
Ye know He bids us to tell out our wants,
Knowing them all; give up to Him your will,
And trust Him-trust Him. In his wondrous love
He deigns the lowliest longing to fulfil.
Ay, and with that fulfilment which we ne’er
Shall grasp or fathom-till we come to see
Our strange, mysterious human life unveil’d
In the clear daylight of eternity.
The beggar ask’d for sight-Christ answer’d him,
For his faith’s sake, and gave him sight indeed.
Just so his silent hands and darken’d eyes
Were lifted once, for grace of “life” to plead.
And God fulfilled his prayer as utterly!
He gave him life-the life of saints above,
Beyond all earthly dreaming sweet and glad-
An endless life in His eternal love!
A few random poems:
- Elegy On An Australian Schoolboy poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- Sonnet 54: O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem by William Shakespeare
- CAESAR’S LAST BREATH by MICHAEL SALCMAN
- Нина Воронель – Харьков
- Низами Гянджеви – О милый друг, давно пленен я
- The Hermit Goes Up Attic by Maxine Kumin
- Robert Burns: Willie Chalmers: Mr. Chalmers, a gentleman in Ayrshire, a particular friend of mine, asked me to write a poetic epistle to a young lady, his Dulcinea. I had seen her, but was scarcely acquainted with her, and wrote as follows:-
- On The Death Of Mrs. Throckmorton’s Bullfinch by William Cowper
- Шекспир – С любовью связан жизненный мой путь – Сонет 92
- Олег Григорьев – Иду я среди голодный
- My Government Frustrates Me by Olaniyi Beloved Abimbola
- Supply=Demand by Ricardo Sternberg
- Immigrant by Walter William Safar
- The Freedom Of Poetry by Ndue Ukaj
- Mowing by Robert Frost
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
- A PANEGYRIC TO SIR LEWIS PEMBERTON by Robert Herrick
- A New Year’s Gift, Sent To Sir Simeon Steward by Robert Herrick
- A MEDITATION FOR HIS MISTRESS by Robert Herrick
- A MEAN IN OUR MEANS by Robert Herrick
- A Lyric to Mirth by Robert Herrick
- A HYMN TO VENUS AND CUPID by Robert Herrick
- A HYMN TO THE GRACES by Robert Herrick
- A Hymn to Love by Robert Herrick
- A HYMN TO BACCHUS by Robert Herrick
- A Dialogue Betwixt Himself and Mistress Eliza Wheeler, under the Name of Amarillis by Robert Herrick
- A COUNTRY LIFE:TO HIS BROTHER, MR THOMAS HERRICK by Robert Herrick
- A Conjuration To Electra by Robert Herrick
- A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall by Robert Herrick
- A Child’s Grace by Robert Herrick
- A CANTICLE TO APOLLO by Robert Herrick
- A Bucolic Betwixt Two; Lacon and Thyrsis by Robert Herrick
- Under Cover of Night by Robert Desnos
- The Voice of Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos
- The Ring of Stars by Robert Desnos
- Sleep Spaces by Robert Desnos
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.