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:
- Николай Карамзин – К соловью
- Владимир Орлов – Что нельзя купить
- Огюст Барбье – Тициан
- Robert Burns: Scots’ Prologue For Mr. Sutherland: On his Benefit-Night, at the Theatre, Dumfries.
- Lincoln by Vachel Lindsay
- lord_god_have_mercy_on_me.html
- Mossbawn: Two Poems in Dedication by Seamus Heaney
- Владимир Маяковский – Октябрьские частушки
- Your Last Drive by Thomas Hardy
- Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
- A Grave by Marianne Moore
- The Toucan by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабочий! (РОСТА №735)
- My Lady in Her White Silk Shawl by Vachel Lindsay
- Витя, Витенка, Витюша
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
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Бедняк
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Бахчисарай
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Ель и берёза
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Е. А. Карлгоф
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Две прелестницы
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Два клада
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Довольно
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Дом в цветах
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Добрый совет
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Дева за клавесином
- Владимир Бенедиктов – День и две ночи
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Dahin
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Чёрный цвет
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Чувство
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Что ж делать
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Что шумишь
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Чесменские трофеи
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Человек
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Кудри
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Коса
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.