Middle Age

The sins of Youth are hardly sins,

So frank they are and free.

‘T is but when Middle-age begins

We need morality.

Ah, pause and weigh this bitter truth:

That Middle-age, grown cold,

No comprehension has of Youth,

No pity for the Old.

Youth, with his half-divine mistakes,

She never can forgive,

So much she hates his charm which makes

Worth while the life we live.

She scorns Old Age, whose tolerance

And calm, well-balanced mind

(Knowing how crime is born of chance)

Can pardon all mankind.

Yet she, alas! has all the power

Of strength and place and gold,

Man’s every act, through every hour,

Is by her laws controlled.

All things she grasps with sordid hands

And weighs in tarnished scales.

She neither feels, nor understands,

And yet her will prevails!

Cold-blooded vice and careful sin,

Gold-lust, blind selfishness,–

The shortest, cheapest way to win

Some, worse than cheap, success.

Such are her attributes and aims,

Yet meekly we obey,

While she to guide and order claims

All issues of the day.

You seek for honour, friendship, truth?

Let Middle-age be banned!

Go, for warm-hearted acts, to Youth;

To Age,–to understand!

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 

• The Little Boy And The Old Man by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Land Of Happy by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Hunter by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Great Conch Train Robbery by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Generals by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Bridge by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Boa Constrictor Song by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Bear, The Fire, And The Snow by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Testing The Bomb by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Sylvia’s Mother by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Sure Hit Songwriter’s Pen by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Son Of A Scoundrel by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Someone Ate The Baby by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Someday’s Here by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Somebody Has To by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Smoke Off by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
• Sing Me A Rainbow by Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein

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