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:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Обвинение
- Words – “My only friends forever” by Vasishta Sharma Gudi
- Lover’s Gifts LIV: In the Beginning of Time by Rabindranath Tagore
- Михаил Кузмин – Вот после ржавых львов и рева
- Frog Autumn by Sylvia Plath
- Belts by Rudyard Kipling
- To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant
- Ariel by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Британишский – Молодой Толстой
- A New Year’s Gift, Sent To Sir Simeon Steward by Robert Herrick
- Яков Полонский – Белая ночь
- To A Picture Of Eleanor Duse by Sara Teasdale
- Counting My Past
- Conversation 23: On Cause by Rosmarie Waldrop
- The Gardener LXVIII: None Lives For Ever, Brother by Rabindranath Tagore
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 Seven Sisters by William Wordsworth
- The Sailor’s Mother by William Wordsworth
- The Russian Fugitive by William Wordsworth
- The Reverie of Poor Susan by William Wordsworth
- The Redbreast Chasing The Butterfly by William Wordsworth
- The Prioress’s Tale [from Chaucer] by William Wordsworth
- The Primrose of the Rock by William Wordsworth
- The Power of Armies is a Visible Thing by William Wordsworth
- The Pet-Lamb by William Wordsworth
- The Passing of the Elder Bards by William Wordsworth
- The Old Cumberland Beggar by William Wordsworth
- The Oak Of Guernica Supposed Address To The Same by William Wordsworth
- The Morning Of The Day Appointed For A General Thanksgiving. January 18, 1816 by William Wordsworth
- The King Of Sweden by William Wordsworth
- The Idle Shepherd Boys by William Wordsworth
- The Horn Of Egremont Castle by William Wordsworth
- The Highland Broach by William Wordsworth
- The Happy Warrior by William Wordsworth
- The Green Linnet by William Wordsworth
- The Germans On The Heighs Of Hochheim by William Wordsworth
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.