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:
- Beautiful Women. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Маяковский – Разве у вас не чешутся обе лопатки
- Astrophel and Stella: XXXIII by Sir Philip Sidney
- The Wild Goose’s Will by Mike Yuan
- Memoirs Of A Spinach-Picker by Sylvia Plath
- Sonet 56 by William Alexander
- Lichtenberg by Rudyard Kipling
- Lover’s Gifts XIX: It Is Written in the Book by Rabindranath Tagore
- Attitude To A Miss by Vladimir Mayakovsky
- Primrose by Patrick Kavanagh
- Robert Burns: On John Bushby, Esq., Tinwald Downs:
- Sonnet Of Motherhood XLV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems | Poetry Monster
- The Holy Mountain of Hope by Thomas Ziemer
- Power Of Music by William Wordsworth
- Glory To God Alone by William Cowper
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 Британишский – В болотах севера Евразии
- Владимир Британишский – Утром 10 мая 1945 года
- Владимир Британишский – Уронили, потеряли
- Владимир Британишский – Урочище
- Владимир Британишский – Унифицированный современный поэт
- Владимир Коркин – Август дозреет яблоком
- Владимир Гиппиус – Закон чего? – закона нет
- Владимир Гиппиус – Узел
- Владимир Гиппиус – Слава
- Владимир Гиппиус – Писать стихи
- Владимир Гиппиус – Иначе, как стихами, говорить
- Владимир Гиппиус – Друг, скажу тебе несказанное
- Владимир Гиппиус стихи: читать все стихотворения, поэмы поэта Владимир Гиппиус – Поэзия на Poetry Monster
- Владимир Гиляровский – Я эоловой арфы струна
- Владимир Гиляровский – Владимирка – большая дорога
- Владимир Гиляровский – Покаюсь
- Владимир Гиляровский – Песня Дона
- Владимир Гиляровский – Нива
- Владимир Гиляровский – На Севере
- Владимир Гиляровский – Кузьма Орел
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.