Over the smooth lawns, broider’d with violets,
Over the hedges of snow-white thorn,
Over the billowy, pink apple-blossoms,
The musical coo of the cushat is borne.
In the still depths of the dim old plantations,
Where the sweet whispering night-wind stirs
The delicate scent from the dew-sprinkled flowers,
It sings by its nest in the tall green firs.
So peaceful, so pure, so divinely contented,
The world out of sight and its true love nigh
Their little grey wings softly folded together,-
What dreams I have set to that melody!
I listen at dawn, and I listen at even;
I hear the notes bubbling all day long
Through the woodpecker’s laugh and the chirp of the titmouse,-
Little dove, yours is the sweetest song!
‘Tis not a sad song, though it sets me a-crying-
But gladness too deep to be spoken aloud;
Nor forlorn, though ’tis sung in the loneliest places-
But only too sacred to sing to a crowd.
I envy you, though you’re so small and so humble;
I wish I were like you, you shy little dove-
So far from the world and so free from its passion,
Yet sure of your white eggs and sure of your love.
I wish I were pure from low earthly ambitions,
As quiet and calm and contented as you;
I wish my heart held such a well-spring of music,
That I were as gentle and trustful and true.
Little dove, you were worthy to carry the olive
Over the waters to Noah’s host,
To die for the mother of Christ in the Temple,
To be chosen for shrine of the Holy Ghost.
And now you have only to live and be happy,
To rear up your young ones and teach them to coo;
O sing on, and teach me the heavenly lessons,
To be faithful and worthy of God’s work too.
Teach me so humbly to take what He gives me,
The manifold duties, the great and the small;
Teach me so simply to do what He bids me,
Loving and trustful, and thankful for all
A few random poems:
- Nomenclature
- My Heart Was Full by Stevie Smith
- Новелла Матвеева – Река
- Sonnet: On seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams weep at a tale of distress by William Wordsworth
- Владимир Высоцкий – О нашей встрече
- Jones’s Porvate Argyment by Sidney Lanier
- The Passing Show poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sporting Acquaintances by Siegfried Sassoon
- Love’s Fitfulness poem – Alfred Austin
- Untitled III by Yunus Emre
- Robert Burns: Out Over The Forth:
- Second Epistle to J. Lapraik by Robert Burns
- Владимир Маяковский – Враги хлеба
- Robert Burns: On Andrew Turner:
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мой Гамлет
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
- Борис Заходер – Про пана Трулялинского
- Валерий Брюсов – Е.Т. (Кто глаза ее оправил)
- Валерий Брюсов – Дворец любви
- Валерий Брюсов – Две вазы
- Валерий Брюсов – Две испанских песенки
- Валерий Брюсов – Двадцать лет назад ты умерла
- Валерий Брюсов – Два мака
- Валерий Брюсов – Дрожащие листья на бледные щеки
- Валерий Брюсов – Дозор
- Валерий Брюсов – Дождь перед ночью
- Валерий Брюсов – Дождь
- Валерий Брюсов – Голос города (Ру-ру, ру-ру, трах, рк-ру-ру)
- Валерий Брюсов – Годы в былом
- Валерий Брюсов – Гнутся высокие лотосы
- Валерий Брюсов – Глупое сердце, о чем же печалиться
- Валерий Брюсов – Гимн Нилу
- Валерий Брюсов – Гимн Атону
- Валерий Брюсов – Гимн Афродите
- Валерий Брюсов – Гесперидовы сады
- Валерий Брюсов – Германия (отрывки)
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

Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.