A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
If I was drawn here from a distant place,
‘Twas not to pray nor hear our friend’s address,
But, gazing once more on your winsome face,
To worship there Ideal Loveliness.
On that pure shrine that has too long ignored
The gifts that once I brought so frequently
I lay this votive offering, to record
How sweet your quiet beauty seemed to me.
Enchanting girl, my faith is not a thing
By futile prayers and vapid psalm-singing
To vent in crowded nave and public pew.
My creed is simple: that the world is fair,
And beauty the best thing to worship there,
And I confess it by adoring you.
A few random poems:
- Sonnet LXIII by William Shakespeare
- His Phoenix by William Butler Yeats
- “For where, beneath one’s parent sky” poem – Alfred Austin
- Monday by Vishü Rita Krocha
- My Heart Goes Out by Stevie Smith
- Владимир Маяковский – ПОДХОДИ, ТОВАРИЩ, СМОТРИ ЛУЧШЕ… (Главполитпросвет №69)
- The Countess Cathleen In Paradise by William Butler Yeats
- Men Improve With The Years by William Butler Yeats
- Иван Варавва – На окраине села
- Юрий Левитанский – Диалог у новогодней елки
- Late Fragment by Raymond Carver
- Eclipse Of Love
- The Hermit Goes Up Attic by Maxine Kumin
- Robert Burns: The Raptures Of Folly:
- Gethsemane by Rudyard Kipling
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
- Snapshots Of A Daughter In Law
- Shattered Head
- Rural Reflections
- Prospective Immigrants Please Note
- Power
- Planetarium
- Paula Becker To Clara Westhoff
- Our Whole Life
- Orion
- On Edges
- November 1968
- My Mouth Hovers Across Your Breasts
- Moving In Winter
- Miracle Ice Cream
- Living In Sin
- Integrity
- In Those Years
- In The Evening
- In A Classroom
- Implosions
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

Alan Seeger (1888-1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk musician, Pete Seeger.