On The Death Of Mr Crashaw

Poet and Saint! to thee alone are given

The two most sacred names of earth and heaven,

The hard and rarest union which can be

Next that of godhead with humanity.

Long did the Muses banish’d slaves abide,

And built vain pyramids to mortal pride;

Like Moses thou (though spells and charms withstand)

Hast brought them nobly home back to their Holy Land.

Ah wretched we, poets of earth! but thou

Wert living the same poet which thou’rt now.

Whilst angels sing to thee their airs divine,

And joy in an applause so great as thine,

Equal society with them to hold,

Thou need’st not make new songs, but say the old.

And they (kind spirits!) shall all rejoice to see

How little less than they exalted man may be.

Still the old heathen gods in numbers dwell,

The heavenliest thing on earth still keeps up Hell.

Nor have we yet quite purg’d the Christian land;

Still idols here like calves at Bethel stand.

And though Pan’s death long since all oracles broke,

Yet still in rhyme the fiend Apollo spoke:

Nay with the worst of heathen dotage we

(Vain men!) the monster Woman deify;

Find stars, and tie our fates there in a face,

And Paradise in them by whom we lost it, place.

What different faults corrupt our Muses thus

Wanton as girls, as old wives fabulous!

Thy spotless Muse, like Mary, did contain

The boundless Godhead; she did well disdain

That her eternal verse employ’d should be

On a less subject than eternity;

And for a sacred mistress scorn’d to take

But her whom God himself scorn’d not his spouse to make.

It (in a kind) her miracle did do;

A fruitful mother was, and virgin too.

How well, blest swan, did fate contrive thy death;

And make thee render up thy tuneful breath

In thy great mistress’ arms! thou most divine

And richest offering of Loretto’s shrine!

Where like some holy sacrifice t’ expire

A fever burns thee, and Love lights the fire.

Angels (they say) brought the fam’d chapel there,

And bore the sacred load in triumph through the air.

‘Tis surer much they brought thee there, and they,

And thou, their charge, went singing all the way.

Pardon, my Mother Church, if I consent

That angels led him when from thee he went,

For even in error sure no danger is

When join’d with so much piety as his.

Ah, mighty God, with shame I speak’t, and grief,

Ah that our greatest faults were in belief!

And our weak reason were even weaker yet,

Rather than thus our wills too strong for it.

His faith perhaps in some nice tenents might

Be wrong; his life, I’m sure, was in the right.

And I myself a Catholic will be,

So far at least, great saint, to pray to thee.

Hail, bard triumphant! and some care bestow

On us, the poets militant below!

Oppos’d by our old enemy, adverse chance,

Attack’d by envy, and by ignorance,

Enchain’d by beauty, tortured by desires,

Expos’d by tyrant Love to savage beasts and fires.

Thou from low earth in nobler flames didst rise,

And like Elijah, mount alive the skies.

Elisha-like (but with a wish much less,

More fit thy greatness, and my littleness)

Lo here I beg (I whom thou once didst prove

So humble to esteem, so good to love)

Not that thy spirit might on me doubled be,

I ask but half thy mighty spirit for me;

And when my Muse soars with so strong a wing,

‘Twill learn of things divine, and first of thee to sing.

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 

• Aubade by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• A Lover’s Complaint by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• A Fairy Song by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 128: How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 149: Canst thou, O cruel, say I love thee not by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 148: O me! what eyes hath love put in my head by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 146: Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 145: Those lips that Love’s own hand did make by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 144: Two loves I have, of comfort and despair by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 143: Lo, as a careful huswife runs to catch by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 142: Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 140: Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 13: O, that you were your self! But, love, you are by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 137: Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 136: If thy soul check thee that I come so near by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 135: Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 134: So, now I have confessed that he is thine by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

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