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.

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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 

• Considering The Snail by Thom Gunn by Poetry In English
• Broken Love by Talha Jafri by Poetry In English
• Black Market Love by Taisha Destin by Poetry In English
• Attention please! Attention please! by Roald Dahl by Poetry In English
• An Act of Faith by Talha Jafri by Poetry In English
• After Years by Ted Kooser by Poetry In English
• Abd el-Hadi Fights a Superpower by Taha Muhammad Ali by Poetry In English
• A Ghost in the Shell by Talha Jafri by Poetry In English
• 10 Things I Do Every Day by Ted Berrigan by Poetry In English
• Zermatt To The Matterhorn. by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• A Woman’s Fancy by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• The Woman In The Rye by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• A Week by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• The Year’s Awakening by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• The Workbox by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• The Wistful Lady by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• The Puzzled Game-Birds by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• A Spot by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• A Sign-Seeker by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy
• “The Curtains Now Are Drawn” by Thomas Hardy by Thomas Hardy

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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