Fate has given me many a gift
To which men most aspire,
Lovely, precious and costly things,
But not my heart’s desire.
Many a man has a secret dream
Of where his soul would be,
Mine is a low verandah’d house
In a tope beside the sea.
Over the roof tall palms should wave,
Swaying from side to side,
Every night we should fall asleep
To the rhythm of the tide.
The dawn should be gay with song of birds,
And the stir of fluttering wings.
Surely the joy of life is hid
In simple and tender things!
At eve the waves would shimmer with gold
In the rosy sunset rays,
Emerald velvet flats of rice
Would rest the landward gaze.
A boat must rock at the laterite steps
In a reef-protected pool,
For we should sail through the starlit night
When the winds were calm and cool.
I am so tired of all this world,
Its folly and fret and care.
Find me a little scented home
Amongst thy loosened hair.
Give me a soft and secret place
Against thine amber breast,
Where, hidden away from all mankind,
My soul may come to rest.
Many a man has a secret dream
Of where his life might be;
Mine is a lovely, lonely place
With sunshine and the sea.

A few random poems:
- Николай Гербель – Простор
- Robert Burns: Sweet Afton :
- My Father’s Hats by Mark Irwin
- Down on the Shore by William Allingham
- By The Side Of The Grave Some Years After by William Wordsworth
- Владимир Британишский – Меня благословил старик Бажов
- Robert Burns: Open The Door To Me, Oh:
- Hymn For The Use Of The Sunday School At Olney by William Cowper
- How to Earn Money Writing and Selling Books
- Юрий Левитанский – Кто-то так уже писал
- Sculpture of Debris on the Waterfront by Martina Reisz Newberry
- The Confederate Flags poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Forever Closed by Margaret Marie Hubbard
- The Space Heater by Sharon Olds
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Два клада
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 house where I was born (10) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (09) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (08) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (07) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (06) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (05) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (04) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (03) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (02) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (01) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The Hawthorn Tree by Willa Cather
- Street In Packingtown by Willa Sibert Cather
- Spanish Johnny by Willa Sibert Cather
- Poppies on Ludlow Castle by Willa Cather
- Paradox by Willa Cather
- London Roses by Willa Cather
- Passer-By, These Are Words by Yves Bonnefoy
- Arcadian Winter by Willa Cather
- Once A Great Love by Yehuda Amichai
- On Rabbi Kook’s Street by Yehuda Amichai
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.