A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок
(1880-1921)
The river stretched. It flows, idly grieves,
And washes both banks.
In steppe, above light clay of cliffs
Rinks mourn in ranks.
O Russia! Dear wife! With clearness and pain
We see the lengthy way!
It sent an arrow of ancient Tartar reign;
In breast it lay.
The way through steppes and an incessant plight,
Through your, o Russia, lot!
And alien dark and dark of night
I fear not.
Let be the night. We’ll ride and light in gloom
Camp-fires late.
The holy flag will flash in fume,
And Khan’s steel blade …
And endless battle! We only dream of peace
Through blood and dust …
The mare of steppes flies on and flees,
And tramples the grass …
There’s no end! The miles and cliffs flash past
Stop crazy flood!
The frightened clouds go fast,
Sun sets in blood!
Sun sets in blood! Blood streams from heart away!
O cry, my heart …
There’s no peace! Through steppe the bay
Prolongs the flight!

A few random poems:
- Алексей Плещеев – Сон
- The Innocent Ill
- Анатолий Жигулин – Кладбище в Заполярье
- The Results Of Thought by William Butler Yeats
- Above the Battle’s Front by Vachel Lindsay
- The End by Rabindranath Tagore
- Ок Мельникова – Заповедь номер одиннадцать
- Олег Бундур – Умный кот
- Вера Павлова – Удобряю ресницы снами
- Sonnet 93: So shall I live, supposing thou art true by William Shakespeare
- The Sea And the Hills by Rudyard Kipling
- Федор Тютчев – Как ни тяжел последний час
- Mediocrity in Love Rejected by Thomas Carew
- Howard Stern’s Wine
- Sonnet CXLII by William Shakespeare
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
- Loneliness is a prison by Vladimir Marku
- Little angel by Vladimir Marku
- Let Him In by Vishnu J Mohan
- I Will by Vishü Rita Krocha
- I turn my head by Vladimir Marku
- Her smile by Vladimir Marku
- Happiness by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Friends by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Forget-me-nots by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Evening balcony by Vladimir Marku
- Eve of spring by Vladimir Marku
- Eavesdropping myself by Vladimir Marku
- Desperation by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Demon by Vladimir Marku
- Breather by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Aquarium epoch by Vladimir Marku
- After Midnight by Walid Saba
- Adieu…, adieu…. by Vladimir Marku
- Who’s Who by W H Auden
- We’re Late by W H Auden
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
Alexander Blok (1880-1921), also Block, was a Russian poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator and literary critic. A classic of Russian literature.