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:
- A Silence poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Низами Гянджеви – Влюбленных порицают все
- Hush’d be the Camps To-day. by Walt Whitman
- His Holiness the Abbot by Yosa Buson
- The Thorns In The Geäte by William Barnes
- A Wanderer by Siegfried Sassoon
- Аля Кудряшева – Ты рисуй, девочка, небо пошире
- Far Within Us #5 by Vasko Popa
- Николай Карамзин – Гимн слепых
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – Только на фронте
- Владимир Корнилов – Двое
- Robert Burns: Hey, The Dusty Miller:
- Laila and the Khalifa by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- The Highland Broach by William Wordsworth
- Imitated From The Japanese by William Butler Yeats
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
- Scots Prologue for Mr. Sutherland by Robert Burns
- Sappho Redivivus: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn (Song) by Robert Burns
- Rhyming Reply to a Note from Captain Riddell by Robert Burns
- Reply to the Threat of a Censorious Critic by Robert Burns
- Reply to an Announcement by J. Rankine by Robert Burns
- Reply to a Trimming Epistle, received from a Tailor by Robert Burns
- Remorseful Apology by Robert Burns
- Remorse: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Prologue, spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh by Robert Burns
- Prologue spoken at the Theatre of Dumfries by Robert Burns
- Prayer—O Thou Dread Power by Robert Burns
- Poor Mailie’s Elegy by Robert Burns
- Poem on Sensibility by Robert Burns
- Song—A Waukrife Minnie by Robert Burns
- Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk by Robert Burns
- Song—A Man’s a Man for a’ that by Robert Burns
- Song—A Lass wi’ a Tocher by Robert Burns
- Song—A Health to them that’s awa by Robert Burns
- Song—A Health to ane I loe dear by Robert Burns
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.