A poem by Alcaeus of Mytilene (c. 625/620 – c. 580 BC)
What constitutes a State?
Not high-raised battlement, or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities fair, with spires and turrets crown’d;
No:–Men, high-minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude:–
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain;
Prevent the long-aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain.
A few random poems:
- Sweetheart by M. T. Metutera
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Тост
- Duino Elegies: The Fourth Elegy by Rainer Maria Rilke
- To The Right Honourable William, Earl Of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary Of The State For North-America, by Phillis Wheatley
- Владимир Маяковский – Будь готов
- Contraptions by Satish Verma
- Алексей Толстой – С тех пор как я один
- Юрий Левитанский – Грач над березовой чащей
- Hai Kou Unpublished
- Robert Burns: No Churchman Am I:
- The Evenèn Star O’ Zummer by William Barnes
- Robert Burns: Out Over The Forth:
- Новелла Матвеева – Река
- Николай Гумилев – Она говорила
- Haunted by you by Melissa Skelton
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
- Cologne by Paul Celan
- Canal Bank Walk by Patrick Kavanagh
- Brooklyn Narcissus by Paul Blackburn
- Braga by Walid Saba
- Bistro Memories by P.J.Reed
- Bicycle Ride by Pat Mullan
- AUTUMN GRAPES by Önder Kurt
- Autumn by P. K. Page
- And Then It Rained by Pamela Griffiths
- Alameda by Paul Blackburn
- After Rain by P. K. Page
- Advent by Patrick Kavanagh
- Adolescence by P. K. Page
- Addiction by Walid Saba
- A Silent Song by Pamela Griffiths
- A Crimson Carpet by Pamela Griffiths
- A Cat Called Shan by Pamela Griffiths
- Your Words by Piera Chen
- Your souls are ours by Philo Ikonya
- You Are Mine by Pushpendra Singh Baghel
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

Alcaeus of Mytilene ( c. 625/620 – c. 580 Before Christ) ] was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria.