A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок
(1880-1921)
A small circus is amazing;
It’s for kids who are merry and bright;
There a girl and a boy’re gazing
At the ladies, kings, and droll sprites.
… And that terrible music cries over our lot,
Despondently howls the bow…
The scary sprite has captured a tiny tot,
With cranberry juice dripping down.
– The boy –
He’ll be rescued from a new burst of anger
With a wave of a delicate hand.
There – lights coming on,
See their growing reflection?
See the smoke? See the torch on the stand?
This must be the royal procession.
– The girl –
Come now, why all this teasing talk?
This is the devil’s escort…
In the daylight the queen goes out for a walk,
Head to toe with rosebuds decorated.
And escort of knights hold the train of her frock
And jingle their swords, all excited.
Suddenly the clown twists in the lights
Screaming, «Please help me! Please help!
I am bleeding red cranberry juice!
I have bandages made of rags!
I have a paper helmet on my head!
I’ve a wooden sword in my hand!»
Here both the girl and the boy broke into tears,
And the merry street circus shut its doors.

A few random poems:
- Untitled XX by Yunus Emre
- Song of Diego Valdez by Rudyard Kipling
- Drinking-Song, A. To a Formal, Proud, Sober Coxcomb by William Wycherley
- Ольга Берггольц – Воспоминание (И вот в лицо пахнуло земляникой)
- Игорь Северянин – Памяти Н.И. Кульбина
- The Mad Philosopher poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Light Or Sheäde by William Barnes
- Константин Бальмонт – Эльзи
- Михаил Кузмин – Звезда Афродиты
- A Kiss by Thomas Lux
- The Conundrum of the Workshops by Rudyard Kipling
- Something by Robert Creeley
- Eternal Existence by Mark Miller
- To a Lady on Her Remarkable Preservation by Phillis Wheatley
- Giving Myself Up by Mark Strand
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
- When ‘Omer Smote ‘Is Bloomin’ Lyre by Rudyard Kipling
- When Earth’s Last Picture Is Painted by Rudyard Kipling
- What the People Said by Rudyard Kipling
- What Happened by Rudyard Kipling
- Ulster by Rudyard Kipling
- Two Months by Rudyard Kipling
- Two Kopjes by Rudyard Kipling
- Troopin’ by Rudyard Kipling
- Tommy by Rudyard Kipling
- Tin Fish by Rudyard Kipling
- The Young British Soldier by Rudyard Kipling
- The Wishing-Caps by Rudyard Kipling
- The Winners by Rudyard Kipling
- The Widow at Windsor by Rudyard Kipling
- The Truce of the Bear by Rudyard Kipling
- The Thousandth Man by Rudyard Kipling
- The Story of Uriah by Rudyard Kipling
- The Story of Ung by Rudyard Kipling
- The Sons of Martha by Rudyard Kipling
- The Songs of the Lathes by Rudyard Kipling
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.