A poem by Alistar Crowley (1875-1947)
I to the open road,
You to the hunchbacked street –
Which of us two
Shall the earlier rue
That day we chanced to meet?
I with a heart that’s sound,
You with sick fancies of pain –
Which of us two
Would the earlier rue
If we chanced to meet again?
I jingle homely lore,
While you rhyme is with kiss –
Which of us two
Will the earlier rue
The love of the Hoylake Miss?
Not I the first to go,
Nor I the first to deceive –
Which of us two
Shall the the earliest rue
Our garden of make-believe?
You were a Chinese god,
I an offering fair,
As we entered the
Garden of Allah,
To sing our holy prayer.
Entered with hearts bowed low,
Yet I heard a voice that cried:
For he is the god of the
Sacrifice,
You are the crucified.
It was all make-believe,
A foolish game of play,
Our garden of Allah
A drawing-room,
Our Chinese god of clay.
Strings of bruises for pearls,
Tears for forget-me-nots,
And a deadly pain
Of the sickening shame
Watching the fading spots.
As quickly they faded,
The heart of me faded as well,
Until nothing is left
Of my garden,
But a soul sunk to hell.
Hail!
Poet prend ton lute -Je disparaire,
No more together we’ll enter the
Enchanted garden of make-believe,
Nor my sad soul listen while thine deceive.
No more you’ll be the God of Sacrifice,
Nor I the crucified.
Ah, Garden of Allah -how bitter sweet
Thy fruit. Why breakest thou the heart?
Why spoilest thou the soul with notes
From thy golden lute?
Lo! our garden a common room
Our Chinese god burnt clay, and
The singing of verses a funeral hymn
That awakes with awakening day.
‘Twas all such a meaningless play,
Poet prend ton lute -Je disparaitre.
Hail!
Poet, take my hand -we’ll walk
Still a little way.
I’ll not desert thee at the close of day,
I, too, must pray.
A beggar asking alms of passers-by,
Does not refuse a drink to one who’s dry
That once by him did lie.
Poet, come close -before I leave for aye
Take thou my hand, we’ll walk still
A little way.
One garment covered both to keep us warm,
What harmed the one, was’t not the other’s harm?
Close clasped, one single form.
Was it not meant of aye?
Poet, take thou my hand -we’ll still
Walk a little way.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Степанов – Яхта (Буква Я)
- Олег Григорьев – Тонет муха в сладости
- lost_love_is_never_lost.html
- To The Nameless Soldier
- Epitaph In Three Parts by Sylvia Plath
- A Wink From Hesper by William Ernest Henley
- The Captive Trumpeter by William Somervile
- Liebestod
- Addressed To Miss Macartney, Afterwards Mrs. Greville, On Reading The Prayer For Indifference by William Cowper
- Doomes-Day: The Twelfth Houre by William Alexander
- Dublinesque by Philip Larkin
- St. Roach by Muriel Rukeyser
- Corona by Paul Celan
- Владимир Британишский – По-польски вместо слова “светлячок”
- The Merciful Hand by Vachel Lindsay
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
- Федор Сологуб – В лес пришла пастушка
- Федор Сологуб – В камине пылания много
- Федор Сологуб – В иных веках, в иной отчизне
- Федор Сологуб – В этот час
- Федор Сологуб – В его саду растет рябина
- Федор Сологуб – Терцинами писать как будто очень трудно
- Федор Сологуб – Тепло мне потому, что мой уютный дом
- Федор Сологуб – Тень решётки прочной
- Федор Сологуб – Там, внизу, костры горели
- Федор Сологуб – Так же внятен мне, как прежде
- Федор Сологуб – Так нежен был внезапный поцелуй
- Федор Сологуб – Святых имен твоих не знаю
- Федор Сологуб – Своеволием рока
- Федор Сологуб – Светлый пир
- Федор Сологуб – Светлый дом мой всё выше
- Федор Сологуб – Сверкайте, миги строгих дней
- Федор Сологуб – Солнце, которому больно
- Федор Сологуб – Собака седого короля
- Федор Сологуб – Снова саваны надели
- Федор Сологуб – Снежное поле бесшумно
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
