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:
- A Birthday Song. To S. G. by Sidney Lanier
- Sound O’ Water by William Barnes
- Владимир Высоцкий – У Доски, где почётные граждане
- Paralytic by Sylvia Plath
- Николай Языков – П. В. Киреевскому (Ты крепкий, праведный стоятель)
- Robert Burns: Charlie, He’s My Darling:
- Sonet 5 by William Alexander
- The Gardener IX: When I Go Alone at Night by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Bear, The Fire, And The Snow by Shel Silverstein
- Apple-Blossoms by Will McKendree Carleton
- The Goldsmith by Siegfried Sassoon
- By The Fire
- David Cleek by Siegfried Sassoon
- “From the man whom I love, though my heart I disguise,” by Tobias Smollett
- Владимир Маяковский – Первый вывоз
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
- Яков Полонский – Цветок
- Яков Полонский – Чтобы песня моя разлилась как поток
- Яков Полонский – Чайка
- Яков Полонский – Братья
- Яков Полонский – Блажен озлобленный поэт
- Яков Полонский – Белая ночь
- Яков Полонский – А. Н. Майкову (ответ на стихи его: Полонский! Суждено опять судьбою злою)
- Яков Полонский – Последний вздох
- Яков Полонский – После праздника
- Яков Полонский – Полонский здесь не без привета
- Яков Полонский – Поэт и гражданин, он призван был учить
- Яков Полонский – Подойди ко мне, старушка
- Яков Полонский – Поцелуй
- Яков Полонский – По горам две хмурых тучи
- Яков Полонский – Письмо
- Яков Полонский – Песня циганки
- Яков Полонский – Памяти В. М. Гаршина
- Яков Полонский – Памяти С. Я. Надсона
- Яков Полонский – Откуда
- Яков Полонский – Орел и голубка
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
