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 

• Владимир Высоцкий – Вот и настал этот час опять by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Вот, главный вход by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Войны и голодухи натерпелися мы всласть by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Водой наполненные горсти by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Веселая покойницкая by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Побег на рывок by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В холода, в холода by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В тюрьме Таганской нас стало мало by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В тайгу by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В Средней Азии безобразие by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владислав Ходасевич – Опять во тьме. У наших ног by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Окна во двор by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Обо всем в одних стихах не скажешь by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – О, если б в этот час желанного покоя by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Новый год by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Ночь by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Ни розового сада by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Нет, не шотландской королевой by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Нет, молодость, ты мне была верна by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Яков Полонский – Диссонанс by Яков Полонский

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.

 

Parallel Translations of Poetry

Poems by Author and Category

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