Song Of The Peri

A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)

Beauty, the Gift of Gifts, I give to thee.

Pleasure and love shall spring around thy feet

As through the lake the lotuses arise

Pinkly transparent and divinely sweet.

I give thee eyes aglow like morning stars,

Delicate brows, a mist of sable tresses,

That all the journey of thy lie may be

Lit up by love and softened by caresses.

For those who once were proud and softly bred

Shall, kneeling, wait thee as thou passest by,

They who were pure shall stretch forth eager hands

Crying, “Thy pity, Lord, before we die!”

And one shall murmur, “If the sun at dawn

Shall open and caress a happy flower,

What blame to him, although the blossom fade

In the full splendour of his noontide power?”

And one, “If aloes close together grow

It well may chance a plant shall wounded be,

Pierced by the thorntips of another’s leaves,

Thus am I hurt unconsciously by thee.”

For some shall die and many more shall sin,

Suffering for thy sake till seven times seven,

Because of those most perfect lips of thine

Which held the power to make or mar their heaven.

And though thou givest back but cruelty,

Their love, persistent, shall not heed nor care,

All those whose ears are fed with blame of thee

Shall say, “It may be so, but he was fair.”

Ay, those who lost the whole of youth for thee,

Made early and for ever, shamed and sad,

Shall sigh, re-living some sweet memory,

“Ah, once it was his will to make me glad.”

Thy nights shall be as bright as summer days,

The sequence of thy sins shall seem as duty,

Since I have given thee, Oh, Gift of Gifts!–

The pale perfection of unrivalled beauty.

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 

• Джон Мильтон – Новым гонителям свободы by John Milton
• Джон Мильтон – Написано в дни, когда ожидался штурм Лондона by John Milton
• Джон Китс – Два-три букета и две-три коробки by John Keats
• Джон Китс – Дуралейная песня by John Keats
• Джон Китс – Девчонка из Девона by John Keats
• Джон Китс – Делим яблоко Евы by John Keats
• Джон Китс – Что ж, по горам и по долам by John Keats
• Джон Китс – Четыре разных времени в году by John Keats
• Джон Китс – Чаттертону by John Keats
• Джон Донн – Женская верность by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Я весь боренье, на беду мою by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Христос, Свою невесту, всю в лучах by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Ворожба над портретом by John Donne
• Джон Донн – О черная душа, Недуг напал by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Ничто by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Мощи by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Любовная наука by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Лекция о тени by John Donne
• Джон Донн – Когда я с ней, с моим бесценным кладом by John Donne
• Демьян Бедный – Весенний благостный покой by Демьян (Ефим) Бедный (Притворов)

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