The Request

I’AVE often wish’d to love; what shall I do?

Me still the cruel boy does spare;

And I a double task must bear,

First to woo him, and then a mistress too.

Come at last and strike, for shame,

If thou art any thing besides a name;

I’ll think thee else no God to be,

But poets rather Gods, who first created thee.

I ask not one in whom all beauties grow;

Let me but love, whate’er she be,

She cannot seem deform’d to me;

And I would have her seem to others so.

Desire takes wings and straight does fly,

It stays not dully to inquire the Why.

That happy thing, a lover, grown,

I shall not see with others’ eyes, scarce with mine own.

If she be coy, and scorn my noble fire;

If her chill heart I cannot move;

Why I’ll enjoy the very love,

And make a mistress of my own desire.

Flames their most vigorous heat do hold,

And purest light, if compass’d round with cold:

So, when sharp winter means most harm,

The springing plants are by the snow itself kept warm.

But do not touch my heart, and so be gone;

Strike deep thy burning arrows in!

Lukewarmness I account a sin,

As great in love as in religion.

Come arm’d with flames; for I would prove

All the extremities of mighty Love.

Th’ excess of heat is but a fable;

We know the torrid zone is now found habitable.

Among the woods and forests thou art found,

There boars and lions thou dost tame;

Is not my heart a nobler game?

Let Venus, men; and beasts, Diana, wound!

Thou dost the birds thy subjects make;

Thy nimble feathers do their wings o’ertake:

Thou all the spring their songs dost hear;

Make me love too, I’ll sing to’ thee all the year!

What service can mute fishes do to thee?

Yet against them thy dart prevails,

Piercing the armour of their scales;

And still thy sea-born mother lives i’th’ sea.

Dost thou deny only to me

The no-great privilege of captivity?

I beg or challenge here thy bow;

Either thy pity to me, or else thine anger, show.

Come! or I ‘ll teach the world to scorn that bow:

I’ll teach them thousand wholesome arts

Both to resist and cure thy darts,

More than thy skilful Ovid e’er did know.

Musick of sighs thou shalt not hear,

Nor drink one wretched lover’s tasteful tear:

Nay, unless soon thou woundest me,

My verses shall not only wound, but murder, thee.

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 

• Николай Языков – Песня (Когда умру, смиренно совершите) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песня (Дороже почестей и злата) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песня (Всему человечеству) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Счастлив, кому судьбою дан) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Мы любим шумные пиры) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Душа героев и певцов) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песнь баяна (Люблю смотреть на месяц ясной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Переезд через приморские Альпы by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – П. В. Киреевскому (Ты крепкий, праведный стоятель) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – П. Н. Шепелеву (Ты мой приятель задушевной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Поденщик, тяжело навьюченный дровами) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Ночь безлунная звездами) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Мне ль позабыть огонь и живость) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Любовь, любовь! веселым днем) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Есть много всяких мук – и много я их знаю) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (День ненастный, темный; тучи) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегии (Свободен я: уже не трачу) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегии (Скажи: когда) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Елагиной by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Е. Н. Мандрыкиной (В младой груди моей о вас воспоминанья) by Николай Языков

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