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 – А. Н. Вульфу (Мой брат по вольности и хмелю) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – А. Н. Татаринову (Здорово, брат! Поставь сюда две чаши) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – А. Н. Очкину (Было время, мой приятель) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – А. М. Языкову (Теперь, когда пророчественный дар) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – А. И. Готовцевой (Влюблен я, дева-красота) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – А. А. Воейковой (На петербургскую дорогу) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – А. А. Елагину (Была прекрасна, весела…) by Николай Языков
• Николай Тихонов – Ленинград by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Крутили мельниц диких жернова by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Когда уйду by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Когда людям советским by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Как след от весла by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Инд by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – И сказал женщине суд by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Гулливер играет в карты by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Другу by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Длинный путь by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Даль полевая, как при Калите by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Берлин 9 мая by Николай Тихонов
• Николай Тихонов – Баллада о гвоздях by Николай Тихонов

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