The Lament Of The Old Nurse

A poem by Aeschylus (c. 525 – c. 456 Before Christ )

NURSE

Our mistress bids me with all speed to call

Aegisthus to the strangers, that he come

And hear more clearly, as a man from man,

This newly brought report. Before her slaves,

Under set eyes of melancholy cast,

She hid her inner chuckle at the events

That have been brought to pass–too well for her,

But for this house and hearth most miserably,–

As in the tale the strangers clearly told.

He, when he hears and learns the story’s gist,

Will joy, I trow, in heart. Ah, wretched me!

How those old troubles, of all sorts made up,

Most hard to bear, in Atreus’s palace-halls

Have made my heart full heavy in my breast!

But never have I known a woe like this.

For other ills I bore full patiently,

But as for dear Orestes, my sweet charge,

Whom from his mother I received and nursed . . .

And then the shrill cries rousing me o’ nights,

And many and unprofitable toils

For me who bore them. For one needs must rear

The heedless infant like an animal,

(How can it else be?) as his humor serve

For while a child is yet in swaddling clothes,

It speaketh not, if either hunger comes,

Or passing thirst, or lower calls of need;

And children’s stomach works its own content.

And I, though I foresaw this, call to mind,

How I was cheated, washing swaddling clothes,

And nurse and laundress did the selfsame work.

I then with these my double handicrafts,

Brought up Orestes for his father dear;

And now, woe’s me! I learn that he is dead,

And go to fetch the man that mars this house;

And gladly will he hear these words of mine.

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 

• Do You Know What It’s Like by Poetry In English
• That devil of a man by Poetry In English
• Because We Never Practiced With The Escape Chamber poem – Alice Fulton poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Aplogize by Poetry In English
• Alone by Poetry In English
• About Face poem – Alice Fulton poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• To the Muse poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• Those Born In Obscure Times poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• Those Born In Obscure Times poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• The Twelve poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• The Stranger poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• The Faithless Shadows. poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• The Death of Grandfather poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• The Snowy Spring Is Raging Mad poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• The Scythians poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• Street Circus poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• The Snowy Spring Is Raging Mad poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• On the Field of Kulicovo poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• I Wait For You… poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок
• I Prefer the Gorgeous Freedom poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster by Александр Блок

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