Ye, that the untrod paths have braved,
With heart and brain unbound;
Who ask not that your souls be saved,
But that the Truth be found;
Whose fiery cross is borne unseen,
Whose meek brows, bleeding but serene
With only thorns are crowned;
Who, still and steadfast, stand for Right,
Though none acclaim and none requite:
Who learn how little is the sum
Of all that Truth can teach,
And where the serried boundaries come
That bar your utmost reach;
For whom no sage, no saint, can find
A clue to aught that lies behind;
For whom the preachers preach
Only to leave ye at the door
That opens to their knock no more:
Who, listening in the trackless night,
Hearing no bugle-call,
Still fight, undaunted, the good fight,
And never fail or fall;
Who, standing on an inch of ground,
Feel the Infinities around,
Yet dare to face it all,
And keep the life ye hold in trust
Safe from besetting moth and rust.
Life-tragic mystery of Man-
Strange tale of joy and grief!
Chaff for the errant winds to fan,
A bubble bright and brief,
That floats and shines and bursts unseen,
And leaves no trace where it has been;
Like thistle-down and leaf,
That in soft airs of autumn dance,
The helpless sport of Fate and Chance.
Ye, who can see the case so clear,
And scorn to cringe and moan,
Who follow humbly, without fear,
The soul’s behest alone;
Content to suffer for the sake
Of faithful manhood, and to make
A loftier stepping-stone,
A straighter way, a smoother street,
For tread of unborn children’s feet.
Ye, whom the children’s sorrows rend,
And who despise the smart,
Who walk uprightly to the end
With an undoubting heart,
To take the guerdon of your pain-
Death, with no hope to live again-
Ye have the better part,
Salt of the world, that keeps it sound!
Kings that shall yet be throned and crowned.
A few random poems:
- Ок Мельникова – Где-то на приморском
- Untitled XXI by Yunus Emre
- Island-Hearth by M. Ivana Trevisani Bach
- Fairy Land v by William Shakespeare
- Face To Face by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Fish by William Butler Yeats
- Валерий Брюсов – Искушение
- Зинаида Александрова – Гибель Чапаева
- Зинаида Александрова – Смешные человечки
- Orpheus with his Lute Made Trees by William Shakespeare
- The Hawthorn Tree by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Epic Menageries by MB Moshe
- Владимир Костров – Отшумели сады, отзвенела вода
- Burlesque Lament fo Wm. Creech’s Absence by Robert Burns
- Give Me Back My Rags #12 by Vasko Popa
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
- Вера Полозкова – И тут он приваливается к оградке
- Вера Полозкова – И пока он вскакивает с кровати
- Вера Полозкова – И катись бутылкой по автостраде
- Вера Полозкова – Губы плавя в такой ухмылке
- Вера Полозкова – Горький запах полыни
- Вера Полозкова – Гонево
- Вера Полозкова – Францу Кафке
- Вера Полозкова – Это не прихоть, это не блажь
- Вера Полозкова – Есть дерево, в лесу всего древней
- Вера Полозкова – Для неровного счета
- Вера Полозкова – Детство
- Вера Полозкова – Декабрь
- Вера Полозкова – Да что у меня, нормально всё, так, условно
- Вера Полозкова – Мой великий кардиотерапевт
- Вера Полозкова – Мне бы только хотелось
- Вера Полозкова – Манипенни, твой мальчик, видно, неотвратим
- Вера Полозкова – Мало ли кто
- Вера Звягинцева – Всхожу на мост
- Вера Звягинцева – Ты не снись мне
- Вера Звягинцева – Стоишь, не поднимая глаз
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

Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.