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!
A few random poems:
- Шекспир – Любовь – не кукла жалкая в руках – Сонет 116
- Валерий Брюсов – Искатель
- Алексей Жемчужников – Почему
- Stray Pleasures by William Wordsworth
- New Year’s Dawn – Broadway by Sara Teasdale
- Sporting Acquaintances by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Fiddling Wood by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Robert Burns: A Health To Ane I Loe Dear:
- The Death of Knowledge by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Chanting the Square Deific. by Walt Whitman
- Lines on the Fall of Fyers by Robert Burns
- Вера Павлова – О чем
- A Child Of God Longing To See Him Beloved by William Cowper
- On A Fowler, By Isidorus by William Cowper
- Юнна Мориц – Сказка про песенку
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
- Lovesong by Ted Hughes
- Lineage by Ted Hughes
- How To Paint A Water Lily by Ted Hughes
- Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes
- God’s Grandeur by Ted Hughes
- Full Moon and Little Frieda by Ted Hughes
- Examination at the Womb-Door by Ted Hughes
- Earth-Moon by Ted Hughes
- Crow’s Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes
- Crow’s Fall by Ted Hughes
- Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days by Ted Hughes
- A Woman Unconscious by Ted Hughes
- Weak by Tanisha Avarsekar
- The battle of fire by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Taketh away by Tanisha Avarsekar
- So tired by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Silent consolation by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Life a chess game by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Life a battlefield by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Late realizations by Tanisha Avarsekar
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
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Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
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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

Aeschylus (525 Before Christ to 456 B.C.) was an ancient Greek author of Greek tragedy, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academics’ knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them.