The Innocent Ill

Though all thy gestures and discourses be

Coin’d and stamp’d by modesty;

Though from thy tongue ne’er slipp’d away

One word which nuns at th’ altar might not say;

Yet such a sweetness, such a grace,

In all thy speech appear,

That what to th’ eye a beauteous face,

That thy tongue is to th’ ear:

So cunningly it wounds the heart,

It strikes such heat through every part,

That thou a tempter worse than Satan art.

Though in thy thoughts scarce any tracks have been

So much as of original sin,

Such charms thy beauty wears as might

Desires in dying confess’d saints excite:

Thou, with strange adultery,

Dost in each breast a brothel keep;

Awake all men do lust for thee,

And some enjoy thee when they sleep.

Ne’er before did woman live,

Who to such multitudes did give

The root and cause of sin, but only Eve.

Though in thy breast so quick a pity be,

That a fly’s death ‘s a wound to thee;

Though savage and rock-hearted those

Appear, that weep not ev’n Romance’s woes;

Yet ne’er before was tyrant known,

Whose rage was of so large extent;

The ills thou dost are whole thine own;

Thou ‘rt principal and instrument:

In all the deaths that come from you,

You do the treble office do

Of judge, of torturer, and of weapon too.

Thou lovely instrument of angry Fate,

Which God did for our faults create!

Thou pleasant, universal ill,

Which, sweet as health, yet like a plague dost kill!

Thou kind, well-natur’d tyranny!

Thou chaste committer of a rape!

Thou voluntary destiny,

Which no man can, or would, escape!

So gentle, and so glad to spare,

So wondrous good, and wondrous fair,

(We know) ev’n the destroying-angels are.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random 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 

• Arms and the Man by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Arcady Unheeding by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Ancient History by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Ancestors by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• An Old French Poet by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Alone by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Aftermath by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Absolution by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Working Party by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Whispered Tale by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Wanderer by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Subaltern by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Poplar and the Moon by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Mystic As Soldier by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Letter Home by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• A Child’s Prayer by Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
• Night Launch by Sonya Ki Tomlinson by Poetry In English
• Long For This World by Sophie Hannah by Poetry In English
• LIGHT ECHOES by Sonya Ki Tomlinson by Poetry In English
• Life Brings Me to this Journey. by Stephen Sweitzer by Poetry In English

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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.

 

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The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works