How will our unborn children scoff at us
In the good years to come,
The happier years to come,
Because, like driven sheep, we yielded thus,
Before the shearers dumb.
What are the words their wiser lips will say?
“These men had gained the light;
“These women knew the right;
“They had their chance, and let it slip away.
“They did not, when they might.
“They were the first to hear the gospel preached,
“And to believe therein;
“Yet they remained in sin.
“They saw the promised land they might have reached,
“And dared not enter in.
“They might have won their freedom, had they tried;
“No savage laws forbade;
“For them the way was made.
“They might have had the joys for which they cried
“And yet they shrank, afraid.
“Afraid to face-the martyr’s rack and flame?
“The traitor’s dungeon? Nay-
“Of what their world would say-
“The smile, the joke, the thinnest ghost of blame!
“Lord! Lord! What fools were they!”
And we-no longer actors of the stage
We cumber now-maybe
With other eyes shall see
This wasted chance, and with celestial rage
Cry “O what fools were we!”
A few random poems:
- Sonnet 46: Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war by William Shakespeare
- Silet poem – Ezra Pound poems
- A Curse for Kings by Vachel Lindsay
- Song—A Health to them that’s awa by Robert Burns
- Зинаида Александрова – Венок
- Casualty by Winifred Mary Letts
- Владимир Британишский – Дым отечества
- A Gravestone Upon The Floor In The Cloisters Of Worcester Cathedral by William Wordsworth
- UNEVEN PATH by Satish Verma
- Федор Тютчев – Как неожиданно и ярко
- Vain
- Robert Burns: Poem On Pastoral Poetry :
- Вергилий – Георгики
- A Seed by William Allingham
- Paradise Lost: Book 06 poem – John Milton poems
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
- Poem (The lump of coal my parents teased) by William Matthews
- Beautiful Balmoral by William Topaz McGonagall
- Beautiful Balmerino by William Topaz McGonagall
- Baldovan by William Topaz McGonagall
- Attempted Assassination of the Queen by William Topaz McGonagall
- Annie Marshall the Foundling by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Ode to the Queen by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Autumn Reverie by William Topaz McGonagall
- An All-Night Sea Fight by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Adventure in the Life of King James V of Scotland by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan by William Topaz McGonagall
- Adventures of King Robert the Bruce by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Mr Murphy and the Blue Ribbon Army by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Mr J. Graham Henderson, The World’s Fair Judge by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Henry M. Stanley by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Dr. Murison by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tale of the Sea by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tale of Elsinore by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tale of Christmas Eve by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Summary History of Lord Clive by William Topaz McGonagall
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.