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:
- Invocation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Song—Farewell to the Highlands by Robert Burns
- Screens (In a Hospital) by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Юрий Коринец – Дедовский подарок
- Степан Щипачев – За селом синел далекий лес
- To The Nightingale poem – John Milton poems
- On An Ugly Fellow (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- So Long! by Precious Tahula
- The Moon is a Painter by Vachel Lindsay
- Belle Isle, 1949 by Philip Levine
- Binsey Poplars poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Нина Воронель – Неровен час
- Labor Pains
- Ольга Берггольц – Заметь, заметь, Как легчает сердце
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
- Гавриил Державин – На храм при Гапсале
- Гавриил Державин – На выздоровление мецената
- Гавриил Державин – На возвращение графа Зубова из Персии
- Гавриил Державин – На умеренность
- Гавриил Державин – На рождение царицы Гремиславы
- Гавриил Державин – На прогулку в грузинском саду
- Гавриил Державин – Ключ
- Гавриил Державин – Капнисту
- Гавриил Державин – К силуэту Ивана Ивановича Хемницера
- Гавриил Державин – К правде
- Гавриил Державин – Анакреоново удовольствие
- Гавриил Державин – Анакреон у печки
- Гавриил Державин – Афинейскому витязю
- Галина Гампер – Здесь сегодня все пошло с молотка
- Галина Гампер – Забываю я все
- Галина Гампер – Я вгоняла содержанье
- Галина Гампер – Я повторяю, сердце остужая
- Федор Тютчев – Князю Суворову
- Федор Тютчев – Князю Горчакову
- Федор Тютчев – Каким венком нам увенчать
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
