THOUGH you be absent here, I needs must say
The Trees as beauteous are, and flowers as gay,
As ever they were wont to be ;
Nay the Birds rural musick too
Is as melodious and free,
As if they sung to pleasure you:
I saw a Rose-Bud ope this morn ; I’ll swear
The blushing Morning open’d not more fair.
How could it be so fair, and you away ?
How could the Trees be beauteous, Flowers so gay ?
Could they remember but last year,
How you did Them, They you delight,
The sprouting leaves which saw you here,
And call’d their Fellows to the sight,
Would, looking round for the same sight in vain,
Creep back into their silent Barks again.
Where e’er you walk’d trees were as reverend made,
As when of old Gods dwelt in every shade.
Is ‘t possible they should not know,
What loss of honor they sustain,
That thus they smile and flourish now,
And still their former pride retain ?
Dull Creatures! ’tis not without Cause that she,
Who fled the God of wit, was made a Tree.
In ancient times sure they much wiser were,
When they rejoyc’d the Thracian verse to hear ;
In vain did Nature bid them stay,
When Orpheus had his song begun,
They call’d their wondring roots away,
And bad them silent to him run.
How would those learned trees have followed you ?
You would have drawn Them, and their Poet too.
But who can blame them now ? for, since you’re gone,
They’re here the only Fair, and Shine alone.
You did their Natural Rights invade ;
Where ever you did walk or sit,
The thickest Boughs could make no shade,
Although the Sun had granted it :
The fairest Flowers could please no more, neer you,
Then Painted Flowers, set next to them, could do.
When e’er then you come hither, that shall be
The time, which this to others is, to Me.
The little joys which here are now,
The name of Punishments do bear ;
When by their sight they let us know
How we depriv’d of greater are.
‘Tis you the best of Seasons with you bring ;
This is for Beasts, and that for Men the Spring
A few random poems:
- How Thought You That This Thing Could Captivate? poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Epigram—The Toad-eater by Robert Burns
- Николай Карамзин – К портрету Ломоносова
- Владимир Маяковский – Потрясающие факты
- Владимир Маяковский – Вегетарианцы
- Robert Burns: Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad:
- An Elegy poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Binsey Poplars poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Waking at 3 a.m. by William Stafford
- Tale of the Pope and of His Workman Balda
- Love Of Jerusalem by Yehuda Amichai
- Николай Языков – Песни (Счастлив, кому судьбою дан)
- Platonick Love
- Resurgam
- Macer : A Character poem – Alexander Pope
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
- Scoring Highly on the Psychopathy Scale by P.J.Reed
- Primrose by Patrick Kavanagh
- Pollination by Pamela L. Laskin
- This Evening Also by Paul Celan
- Landscape by Paul Celan
- Peace by Patrick Kavanagh
- Planet Earth by P. K. Page
- O Little Root of a Dream by Paul Celan
- Night Ray by Paul Celan
- Motel Pool by P. K. Page
- Miss Brown by Samuel Stephen Wakdok
- Miracles by Paul Hostovsky
- Memory Of My Father by Patrick Kavanagh
- Le monstre by Patryck Froissart
- Landscape by Paul Celan
- Jokes on You by Rohan Dunbar
- Pamela Griffiths – Pamela Griffiths
- In Spite Of by Patricia Farley
- In Memory Of My Mother by Patrick Kavanagh
- I Want Those Words Today by Pandian Chelliah
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

Abraham Cowley (1618 – 1667), the Royalist Poet.Poet and essayist Abraham Cowley was born in London, England, in 1618. He displayed early talent as a poet, publishing his first collection of poetry, Poetical Blossoms (1633), at the age of 15. Cowley studied at Cambridge University but was stripped of his Cambridge fellowship during the English Civil War and expelled for refusing to sign the Solemn League and Covenant of 1644. In turn, he accompanied Queen Henrietta Maria to France, where he spent 12 years in exile, serving as her secretary. During this time, Cowley completed The Mistress (1647). Arguably his most famous work, the collection exemplifies Cowley’s metaphysical style of love poetry. After the Restoration, Cowley returned to England, where he was reinstated as a Cambridge fellow and earned his MD before finally retiring to the English countryside. He is buried at Westminster Abbey alongside Geoffrey Chaucer and Edmund Spenser. Cowley is a wonderful poet and an outstanding representative of the English baroque.