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:
- In Midnight Sleep. by Walt Whitman
- Николай Гербель – Песнь лейб-гвардии уланского полка
- We Miss You So Much by Ronald G. Auguste
- Vernal Ode by William Wordsworth
- Feelings of A French Royalist, On The Disinterment Of The Remains Of The Duke D’Enghien by William Wordsworth
- Executive poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Маяковский – Перекопский энтузиазм
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On John Rankine:
- Obligation poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Orlando Furioso Canto 4 by Ludovico Ariosto
- Зинаида Александрова – Ромашки
- The Puzzler by Rudyard Kipling
- Alfred Lord Tennyson; The Coming Of Arthur poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Just A Dance by Tiffany M
- Robert Burns: How Long And Dreary Is The Night :
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
- The Redeemer by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Rear-Guard by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Poet as Hero by Siegfried Sassoon
- The One-Legged Man by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Old Huntsman by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Last Meeting by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Kiss by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Investiture by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Imperfect Lover by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Heritage by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Hawthorn Tree by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Goldsmith by Siegfried Sassoon
- The General by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Fathers by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Effect by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Dug-Out by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Dreamers by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Dream by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Dragon & The Undying by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Death-Bed by Siegfried Sassoon
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.