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:
- One Whisper of the Beloved by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Федор Сологуб – В иных веках, в иной отчизне
- Sonnet CXXXVII by William Shakespeare
- Plato
- Five Songs – II by W H Auden
- The Homestead by William Barnes
- Robert Burns: Lines Written On A Banknote:
- Lonely Burial by Stephen Vincent Benet
- On Returning To England poem – Alfred Austin
- A High-Toned Old Christian Woman by Wallace Stevens
- Only Breath by Jelaluddin Rumi
- The Sad Shepherd by William Butler Yeats
- Сергей Михалков – Приехавшей из Африки девчушке
- Robert Burns: On Being Shewn A Beautiful Country Seat : Belonging to the same Laird [not quite so wise as Solomon].
- Наум Коржавин – Генерал
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
- The Bell Buoy by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of the Red Earl by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of the King’s Mercy by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of the King’s Jest by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding-House by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of East and West by Rudyard Kipling
- The Answer by Rudyard Kipling
- Tarrant Moss by Rudyard Kipling
- Sussex by Rudyard Kipling
- Study of an Elevation, In Indian Ink by Rudyard Kipling
- South Africa by Rudyard Kipling
- Song of the Wise Children by Rudyard Kipling
- Song of the Red War-Boat by Rudyard Kipling
- Song of Diego Valdez by Rudyard Kipling
- Soldier an’ Sailor Too by Rudyard Kipling
- Snarleyow by Rudyard Kipling
- Sir Richard’s Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Shillin’ a Day by Rudyard Kipling
- Seven Watchmen by Rudyard Kipling
- Seal Lullaby 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.