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!

A few random poems:
- Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore by William Shakespeare
- Василий Тредиаковский – Ну, так уже я не стал быть вашим отныне
- Валерий Брюсов – Дождь
- Here I would have loved you by Luz del Alba Nicola
- Николай Некрасов – Я не люблю иронии твоей
- Ольга Седакова – Неужели, Мария, только рамы скрипят
- Indian Dancers by Sarojini Naidu
- Федор Тютчев – Каким венком нам увенчать
- Tablet
- Иван Бунин – Норд-ост
- A Little Tooth by Thomas Lux
- Ольга Седакова – Все труды
- Алишер Навои – Моя безумная душа в обломках
- The Maid Vor My Bride by William Barnes
- Аля Кудряшева – Осень в городе
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
- Bathed in War’s Perfume. by Walt Whitman
- Base of all Metaphysics, The. by Walt Whitman
- at Weeping Face. by Walt Whitman
- Assurances. by Walt Whitman
- Ashes of Soldiers. by Walt Whitman
- As Toilsome I Wander’d. by Walt Whitman
- As the Time Draws Nigh. by Walt Whitman
- As if a Phantom Caress’d Me. by Walt Whitman
- As I Watch’d the Ploughman Ploughing. by Walt Whitman
- As I Walk These Broad, Majestic Days. by Walt Whitman
- As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario’s Shores. by Walt Whitman
- As I Ponder’d in Silence. by Walt Whitman
- As I lay with Head in your Lap, Camerado. by Walt Whitman
- As Consequent, Etc. by Walt Whitman
- As At Thy Portals Also Death. by Walt Whitman
- As Adam, Early in the Morning. by Walt Whitman
- As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free. by Walt Whitman
- Artilleryman’s Vision, The. by Walt Whitman
- Apostroph. by Walt Whitman
- Ages and Ages, Returning at Intervals. 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
Violet Nicolson ( 1865 – 1904); otherwise known as Adela Florence Nicolson (née Cory), was an English poetess who wrote under the pseudonym of Laurence Hope, however she became known as Violet Nicolson. In the early 1900s, she became a best-selling author. She committed suicide and is buried in Madras, now Chennai, India.