A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
I.
To one fair lady out of Court,
And two fair ladies in,
Who think the Turk and Pope a sport,
And wit and love no sin!
Come, these soft lines, with nothing stiff in,
To Bellenden, Lepell, and Griffin.
With a fa, la, la.
II.
What passes in the dark third row,
And what behind the scene,
Couches and crippled chairs I know,
And garrets hung with green;
I know the swing of sinful hack,
Where many damsels cry alack.
With a fa, la, la.
III.
Then why to Courts should I repair,
Where’s such ado with Townsend?
To hear each mortal stamp and swear,
And every speech with “Zounds” end;
To hear them rail at honest Sunderland,
And rashly blame the realm of Blunderland.
With a fa, la, la.
IV.
Alas! like Schutz I cannot pun,
Like Grafton court the Germans;
Tell Pickenbourg how slim she’s grown,
Like Meadows run to sermons;
To court ambitious men may roam,
But I and Marlbro’ stay at home.
With a fa, la, la.
V.
In truth, by what I can discern,
Of courtiers, ‘twixt you three,
Some wit you have, and more may learn
From Court, than Gay or Me:
Perhaps, in time, you’ll leave high diet,
To sup with us on milk and quiet.
With a fa, la, la.
VI.
At Leicester Fields, a house full nigh,
With door all painted green,
(A Milliner, I mean);
There may you meet us three to three,
For Gay can well make two of Me.
With a fa, la, la.
VII.
But should you catch the prudish itch,
And each become a coward,
Bring sometimes with you lady Rich,
And sometimes mistress Howard;
For virgins, to keep chaste, must go
Abroad with such as are not so.
With a fa, la, la.
VIII.
And thus, fair maids, my ballad ends;
God send the king safe landing;
And make all honest ladies friends
To armies that are standing;
Preserve the limits of those nations,
And take off ladies’ limitations.
With a fa, la, la.
A few random poems:
- Blackberrying by Sylvia Plath
- She and Drugs by Mark R Slaughter
- Elephant Dormitory by Russell Edson
- Юлиан Анисимов – Стихи мои, нежные гости
- Омар Хайям – Никто не лицезрел ни рая, ни геенны
- Song—Stay my Charmer by Robert Burns
- The Dark Cavalier by Margaret Widdemer
- Come, Rest in this Bosom by Thomas Moore
- Владимир Высоцкий – Случай
- The Dream by W H Auden
- Frozen Heart 2
- Robert Burns: Epitaph For Gavin Hamilton, Esq.:
- Home After Three Months Away by Robert Lowell
- Influence of Natural Objects by William Wordsworth
- Interlude: Songs Out Of Sorrow by Sara Teasdale
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 Epic Menageries by MB Moshe
- The Cup of Life by Mike Yuan
- The Colored Balloon by Mike Yuan
- The Cinnamon Peeler by Michael Ondaatje
- State Fair Time by Michael S Wilson
- Speaking To You (From Rock Bottom) by Michael Ondaatje
- Soulmating by Mike Yuan
- Since That Summer by Mike Yuan
- Searching by Mike Yuan
- Scotland by MB Moshe
- Ruined World by Michael Yuan
- Ready for Retirement by Mike Yuan
- Promise Ya by Miraj Patel
- Picking Cherries by Mike Yuan
- Outset by Mike Yuan
- Obdurant men, the worst of the abstinant by Miles
- Notes For The Legend Of Salad Woman by Michael Ondaatje
- Not even a child by Miles
- Nailing by Mike Yuan
- My Ink by Mike Yuan
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
