The Beacon Fires

A poem by Aeschylus (c. 525 – c. 456 Before Christ )

A GLEAM – a gleam – from Ida’s height,

By the Fire-god sent, it came;

From watch to watch it leapt, that light,

As a rider rode the flame!

It shot through the startled sky,

And the torch of that blazing glory

Old Lemnos caught on high,

On its holy promontory,

And sent it on, the jocund sign,

To Athos, Mount of Jove divine.

Wildly the while, it rose from the isle,

So that the might of the journeying Light

Skimmed over the back of the gleaming brine!

Farther and faster speeds it on,

Till the watch that keeps Macistus steep

See it burst like a blazing Sun!

Doth Macistus sleep

On his tower-clad steep?

No! rapid and red doth the wild fire sweep;

It flashes afar on the wayward stream

Of the wild Euripus, the rushing beam!

It rouses the light on Messapion’s height,

And they feed its breath with the withered heath.

But it may not stay!

And away – away –

It bounds in its freshening might.

Silent and soon,

Like a broadened moon,

It passes in sheen, Asopus green,

And bursts on Cithaeron gray!

The warder wakes to the Signal-rays,

And it swoops from the hill with a broader blaze.

On, on the fiery Glory rode;

Thy lonely lake, Gorgopis, glowed!

To Megara’s Mount it came;

They feed it again

And it streams amain-

A giant beard of Flame!

The headland cliffs that darkly down

O’er the Saronic waters frown,

Are passed with the Swift One’s lurid stride,

And the huge rock glares on the glaring tide.

With mightier march and fiercer power

It gained Arachne’s neighboring tower;

Thence on our Argive roof its rest it won,

Of Ida’s fire the long-descended Son!

Bright Harbinger of glory and of joy!

So first and last with equal honor crowned,

In solemn feasts the race-torch circles round. –

And these my heralds! – this my SIGN OF PEACE;

Lo! while we breathe, the victor lords of Greece

Stalk, in stern tumult, through the halls of Troy!

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 Gardener XIX: You Walked by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener XIV: I Was Walking by the Road by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener XIII: I Asked Nothing by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener X: Let Your Work Be, Bride by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXXXIV: Over the Green by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXXXIII: She Dwelt on the Hillside by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXXXI: Why Do You Whisper So Faintly by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXXVI: The Fair Was On by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXXV: At Midnight by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXVIII: None Lives For Ever, Brother by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXIX: I Hunt for the Golden Stag by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LXIV: I Spent My Day by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LIX: O Woman by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener LI: Then Finish the Last Song by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener IX: When I Go Alone at Night by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Gardener IV: Ah Me by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Further Bank by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Flower-School by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The First Jasmines by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works