“And unto Adam He said…. cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns…. shall bring it forth.”
“And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head.”
In bitterest sorrow did the ground bring forth
Its fatal seed. Thine eye beheld the birth-
Beheld the travail of accursèd earth;
E’en then, O Lord! in greater love than wrath!
Thou sawest the sin that none could gather out-
The vineyard cover’d with the thorn and briar;
Thou sawest the fair land ready for the fire-
And still Thy pity compass’d it about.
Thou, O most merciful! didst spare the brand;
Thou didst redeem the Paradise of God;
The thorns were rooted from the stubborn sod.
In pain and toil, by Thine own blessèd hand.
How was our path to heaven o’er grown with sin-
Bramble, and thistle, and the poisonous weed!
Though hearts should break, and patient feet should bleed,
And strive and struggle, none could walk therein.
And Thou didst call us when we went astray-
Didst make our high road straight for evermore;
And, for our guidance, passèd on before,
Leaving Thy shining footprints in the way.
Still do the wild thorns hedge us round about;
Still grow the thistles from the ancient stock;
Still trails the bramble on the blasted rock-
But we can dig, and Thou wilt pull them out.
Ay, we can work-oh, help us in the strife!
Labour is sweet, for Thou dost share it now.
And we shall eat, in sweat of furrow’d brow,
Not earthly food, but Thine own Bread of Life.
And there are thorns of suffering left behind-
Sorrow and loss-that weigh our courage down;
But, ah! we know Thy sacramental crown
Was made of sin and sorrow, intertwined.
Give us of Thy sweet patience, Lord, we pray.
We would not spurn them with rebellious kicks,
Nor fret and strive, for Thou canst feel the pricks;
We too would wear them as a crown for aye.
We would put on Thy likeness-we, the least
And most unworthy. Ay, each piercing thorn,
In Thy name patiently and meekly worn,
Shall bear a blossom for the bridal feast.
Look down, O Brother with the yearning eyes!
Behold us kneeling at Thy bitter cross!
Grant us a share in all Thine earthly loss,
That we may share Thy gain in Paradise.
O weary Head! we see Thee drooping now
Beneath that diadem of mortal pain:
We see Thee sprinkled with the scarlet stain;-
Drop down the chrism on our polluted brow!
O sacred Head!-pale, beautiful, benign-
On our heads be Thy precious blood, we cry!
Lo, the destroying angel, passing by,
Shall spare to smite us-reverencing the sign.
A few random poems:
- I Heard Immanuel Singing by Vachel Lindsay
- Юлия Друнина – А всё равно
- Words Of Love Forevermore by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- I Belong There by Mahmoud Darwish
- Ariel by Sylvia Plath
- Robert Burns: To Miss Ferrier: Enclosing the Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair.
- Light poem – John Milton poems
- He, who was born poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
- Shakespeare by Vachel Lindsay
- A HYMN TO THE GRACES by Robert Herrick
- Without exile, who am I? by Mahmoud Darwish
- Такахама Кёси – Давнишний приятель
- Psalm 83 poem – John Milton poems
- Man in a Window by Ralph Angel
- Sonnet CXLII by William Shakespeare
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
- Владимир Высоцкий – О знаках Зодиака
- Владимир Высоцкий – О нашей встрече
- Владимир Высоцкий – О конце войны
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нынче он закончил вехи
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нынче мне не до улыбок
- Владимир Высоцкий – Ну почему
- Владимир Высоцкий – Ну что, Кузьма
- Владимир Высоцкий – Новые левые, мальчики бравые
- Владимир Высоцкий – Невидимка
- Владимир Высоцкий – Неужто здесь сошёлся клином свет
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нет рядом никого, как ни дыши
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нет меня, я покинул Расею
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не заманишь меня на эстрадный концерт
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не возьмут и невзгоды в крутой оборот…
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не писать стихов мне и романов
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не отдавайте в физики детей
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не могу ни выпить, ни забыться
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не дыми, голова трещит
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не бывает кораблей без названия
- Владимир Высоцкий – Наводчица
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.