Mirage

Is it a will-o’-the-wisp, or is dawn breaking,

That our horizon wears so strange a hue?

Is it but one more dream, or are we waking

To find that dreams, at last, are coming true?

Aye, surely, in that golden glimmer streaking

The cloudy sky-line of the life of man

We see the blessed day he has been seeking

In all directions since the world began.

Sign to each struggling and exhausted nation

Of hope fulfilled, redemption and release;

Sign of the end of needless tribulation,

And the beginning of the reign of Peace.

Country with country, brother with his brother,

Content to share, and not to grab and steal;

Ceasing the wild-beast battle, each with other,

To work in concert for the common weal.

No class-strife more, neighbour with differing neighbour;

No waste or want, to breed the plague or crime;

No soul-debasing pomp and sordid labour,

No wars, no famines, in the coming time!

But swords of slaughter-valour and brains and money-

Turned into ploughshares for the lands redeemed,

To fill men’s homes, as full as hives of honey,

With wealth unknown and happiness undreamed.

Great Art no more the plaything of the idle,

But nurse and minister to every need;

Nature no longer cowed with bit and bridle;

Conscience enfranchised and Religion freed.

All round our darksome isle the tide encroaches,

Distant and dim as yet, but spreading fast.

The reign of Love and Liberty approaches!

The heirs are coming to their own at last!

Hark! What was that? The vanquished devil howling,

With guns and bombs, for brother devil’s blood?

The primal savage out again-befouling

All this fair promise with his primal mud?

Alas! So soon to see our lovely morning

Back in the hopeless night whence it arose,

And have no time to wait another dawning!

O Lord, how long-how long . . . . . . . .

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 

• Arms and the Man by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Arcady Unheeding by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Ancient History by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Ancestors by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• An Old French Poet by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Alone by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Aftermath by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Absolution by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Working Party by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Whispered Tale by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Wanderer by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Subaltern by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Poplar and the Moon by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Mystic As Soldier by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Letter Home by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Child’s Prayer by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Night Launch by Sonya Ki Tomlinson by Poetry In English
• Long For This World by Sophie Hannah by Poetry In English
• LIGHT ECHOES by Sonya Ki Tomlinson by Poetry In English
• Life Brings Me to this Journey. by Stephen Sweitzer by Poetry In English

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