Not Fair

‘T IS very true, I thought you once as fair

As women in th’ idea are;*

Whatever here seems beauteous, seem’d to be

But a faint metaphor of thee:

But then, methoughts, there something shin’d within,

Which casts this lustre o’er thy skin;

Nor could I choose but count it the sun’s light,

Which made this cloud appear so bright.

But, since I knew thy falsehood and thy pride,

And all thy thousand faults beside,

A very Moor, methinks, plac’d near to thee,

White as his teeth would seem to be.

So men (they say) by hell’s delusions led,

Have ta’en a succubus to their bed;

Believe it fair, and themselves happy call,

Till the cleft foot discovers all:

Then they start from ‘t, half ghosts themselves with fear;

And devil, as ‘t is, doth appear.

So, since against my will I found thee foul,

Deform’d and crooked in thy soul,

My reason straight did to my senses shew,

That they might be mistaken too:

Nay, when the world but knows how false you are,

There’s not a man will think you fair;

Thy shape will monstrous in their fancies be,

They’ll call their eyes as false as thee.

Be what thou wilt, hate will present thee so,

As Puritans do the Pope, and Papists Luther do.

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 

• Николай Языков – Песня (Когда умру, смиренно совершите) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песня (Дороже почестей и злата) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песня (Всему человечеству) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Счастлив, кому судьбою дан) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Мы любим шумные пиры) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Душа героев и певцов) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песнь баяна (Люблю смотреть на месяц ясной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Переезд через приморские Альпы by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – П. В. Киреевскому (Ты крепкий, праведный стоятель) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – П. Н. Шепелеву (Ты мой приятель задушевной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Поденщик, тяжело навьюченный дровами) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Ночь безлунная звездами) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Мне ль позабыть огонь и живость) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Любовь, любовь! веселым днем) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Есть много всяких мук – и много я их знаю) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (День ненастный, темный; тучи) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегии (Свободен я: уже не трачу) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегии (Скажи: когда) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Елагиной by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Е. Н. Мандрыкиной (В младой груди моей о вас воспоминанья) by Николай Языков

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.

 

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The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works