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:
- Conquistador
- Иван Мятлев – Наставление Гр[афине] Р[астопчиной]
- Love’s Fitfulness poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты обут? Тебя обувает фабрика… (РОСТА №601)
- Robert Burns: Farewell To Ballochmyle:
- To Natasha poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Lamentations by Siegfried Sassoon
- Жан де Лафонтен – Утопленница
- Altar amid the sea by Vinko Kalinic
- Sonnet I
- Inside/Outside The Window
- Endymion: Book II poem – John Keats poems
- Robert Burns: Fragment Of Song:
- Ок Мельникова – Вечные ценности
- Orlando Furioso Canto 19 by Ludovico Ariosto
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 Маяковский – Нынче бар в России нет… (Главполитпросвет №37)
- Владимир Маяковский – Новый враг
- Владимир Маяковский – Новые силы в III Интернационале!.. (РОСТА №891)
- Владимир Маяковский – Новогодние поздравления (РОСТА №704)
- Владимир Маяковский – Notre-Dame
- Владимир Маяковский – Нормализованная гайка (РОСТА № 171)
- Владимир Маяковский – Номер 17
- Владимир Маяковский – Никчемное самоутешение
- Владимир Маяковский – Ни знахарство, ни благодать бога в болезни не подмога
- Владимир Маяковский – Ни на Европу не надейся, ни на прокукиш, надейся только на свои руки (Главполитпросвет №343)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нетрудно, ландышами дыша
- Владимир Маяковский – Неразбериха
- Владимир Маяковский – Непобедимое оружие
- Владимир Маяковский – Ненавистью древней… (РОСТА № 198)
- Владимир Маяковский – Негритоска Петрова
- Владимир Маяковский – Неделя охраны труда (РОСТА № 317)
- Владимир Маяковский – Неделя фронта (РОСТА)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нечеловеческой силы требовала война… (Главполитпросвет №285)
- Владимир Маяковский – Небылицы в лицах
- Владимир Маяковский – Небесный чердак
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.