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:
- Sonnet 29: When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes by William Shakespeare
- A Farewell by William Wordsworth
- I am He that Aches with Love. by Walt Whitman
- Nature And the Book poem – Alfred Austin
- Mine and Thine by William Morris
- To One Who Has Been Long In City Pent poem – John Keats poems
- All Things Will Die poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Bride-Cake by Robert Herrick
- Robert Burns: The Wounded Hare:
- The Wind At The Door by William Barnes
- A Wicker Basket by Robert Creeley
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Тополь
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 2. Old Yew, which graspest at the sto poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Олег Григорьев – Ну, как тебе на ветке
- Николай Гумилев – Мадагаскар
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
- At the Party by W H Auden
- Old People’s Home by W H Auden
- O What Is That Sound by W H Auden
- O Tell Me The Truth About Love by W H Auden
- Nocturne by W H Auden
- A New Age by W H Auden
- Like A Vocation by W H Auden
- Let A Florid Music Praise by W H Auden
- Law, Like Love by W H Auden
- At Last the Secret is Out by W H Auden
- Lady Weeping at the Crossroads by W H Auden
- It’s No Use Raising A Shout by W H Auden
- In the Time of War, XII by W H Auden
- In Praise Of Limestone by W H Auden
- Here War Is Simple by W H Auden
- Give me a doctor by W H Auden
- from The Cave of Making by W H Auden
- from In Time of War by W H Auden
- Friday’s Child by W H Auden
- Friday’s Child by W H Auden
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
