And must I wear a silken life,
Hemmed in by city walls?
And must I give my garden up
For theatres and balls?
Nay, though the cage be made of gold,
‘Tis better to be free;
The green of the green meadows, love,
Is quite enough for me.
I’d rather ramble through the lanes
Than drive about in town;
I’d rather muse or dream than dance,
When the stars are shining down.
I do not care for diamonds, dear,
But I care a deal for flowers;
And thousands are just creeping out
For the sunshine and the showers.
I like to hear the Household band,
But I love the bird-songs best;
And hark! how they are twittering now
Round each half-hidden nest!
The wind is whispering in the leaves,
And the downy bees begin
To hum in the blossoming sycamores,
And the brook is chiming in.
There is such melody in the woods,
Such music in the air!
The streets are full of life and sound,
And yet ’tis silent there.
I like to see the pictures-ay,
But I am hard to please!
I never saw a picture yet
As great and grand as these;
Such tones of colour as transform
The tender green and brown,
When the pink dawn is flushing up,
Or the red sun sinking down;
Such painting as the chestnut bud
Shows in its opening heart;
Such lights as shine ‘twixt earth and sky
When rain-clouds break apart;
Such soft, warm, subtle tints, as lie
In every mossy patch-
On the blue-brown trunks, now filled with life,
And the humble roof of thatch,-
In the purple hollows of the hills,
In the lichen on the wall,
In the orchard and the feathery woods,
And the sun-lit waterfall.
I like my humble country ways,
My simple, early meals;
I like to potter about the yard,
With my chickens at my heels.
I’d rather climb this brambly steep,
Where freshest sea-winds blow,
With my old straw hat hanging down my back.
Than canter along the Row.
To me (it’s vulgar, dear, I know)
No fête is half so gay
As a cricket-match on the village green,
Or a picnic in the hay.
Ah, yes! I’m happier as I am,-
I’m ignorant, you see;
And the life of fashion that you love
Would never do for me.

A few random poems:
- A Jewish Family In A Small Valley Opposite St. Goar, Upon The Rhine by William Wordsworth
- Федор Сологуб – Зачем, скажи
- “Once we were happy” by Torquato Tasso
- Robert Burns: The Posie :
- The Constellations by William Cullen Bryant
- Madonna of the Evening Flowers poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Who by Sylvia Plath
- Валерий Брюсов – Это было? Неужели?
- Falling Stars by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Since you asked by Radames Antonio Cruz
- A Garden, Written after the Civil Wars poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Altar amid the sea by Vinko Kalinic
- Wilful Missing by Rudyard Kipling
- Robert Burns: Composed In Spring:
- Sonnet CXI: O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide by William Shakespeare
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
- History by Robert Lowell
- Dolphin by Robert Lowell
- Now That You’re Gone by Roberto Cocina
- My World Destroyed by Roberto Cocina
- My Heart Screams by Roberto Cocina
- My Beach by Robert Saltzman
- Mortal Words by Robert McNamara
- Memories of West Street and Lepke by Robert Lowell
- Man And Wife by Robert Lowell
- Identification In Belfast by Robert Lowell
- Homecoming by Robert Lowell
- Home After Three Months Away by Robert Lowell
- High School Crush by Roberto Cocina
- Greengrocer by Robert McNamara
- For the Union Dead by Robert Lowell
- Fake Identity by Roberto Cocina
- Epilogue by Robert Lowell
- Don’t Disappear by Roberto Cocina
- Crossroads by Roger Hayes
- Artistic Soul Retold by Roberto Cocina
More external links (open in a new tab):
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
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.