The Singer

A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)

The singer only sang the Joy of Life,

For all too well, alas! the singer knew

How hard the daily toil, how keen the strife,

How salt the falling tear; the joys how few.

He who thinks hard soon finds it hard to live,

Learning the Secret Bitterness of Things:

So, leaving thought, the singer strove to give

A level lightness to his lyric strings.

He only sang of Love; its joy and pain,

But each man in his early season loves;

Each finds the old, lost Paradise again,

Unfolding leaves, and roses, nesting doves.

And though that sunlit time flies all too fleetly,

Delightful Days that dance away too soon!

Its early morning freshness lingers sweetly

Throughout life’s grey and tedious afternoon.

And he, whose dreams enshrine her tender eyes,

And she, whose senses wait his waking hand,

Impatient youth, that tired but sleepless lies,

Will read perhaps, and reading, understand.

Oh, roseate lips he would have loved to kiss,

Oh, eager lovers that he never knew!

What should you know of him, or words of his?–

But all the songs he sang were sung for you!

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 

• Иван Крылов – Ода, выбранная из псалма 14-го by Иван Крылов
• Иван Крылов – Лиса-строитель (Басня) by Иван Крылов
• Иван Крылов – Лев состаревшийся (Басня) by Иван Крылов
• Иван Козлов – Умирающая Эрменгарда by Иван Козлов
• Иван Коневской – Воскресение by Иван Коневской
• Иван Коневской – В небывалое by Иван Коневской
• Иван Елагин – Спрашивал ответа by Иван Елагин
• Иван Дмитриев – Сверчки by Иван Дмитриев
• Иван Дмитриев – Старик и трое молодых by Иван Дмитриев
• Иван Дмитриев – Смерть и Умирающий by Иван Дмитриев
• Иван Дмитриев – Слепец, Собака его и Школьник by Иван Дмитриев
• Иван Дмитриев – Шарлатан by Иван Дмитриев
• Иван Демьянов – Парикмахер рак-омар by Иван Демьянов
• Иван Демьянов – Одежкин домик by Иван Демьянов
• Иван Бунин – Норд-ост by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Ночного неба свод далекий by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Ночлег by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Ночь идет, и темнеет by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Никогда вы не воскреснете, не встанете by Иван Бунин
• Иван Бунин – Нет солнца, но светлы пруды by Иван Бунин

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