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:
- Et Le Marbre Creuse… by Martine Morillon-Carreau
- Омар Хайям – Мой друг, о завтрашнем заботиться не след
- Как тамада я выступаю в роли теоретика
- Candle Lord
- Elegie IV: On The Death of Prince Henrie by William Alexander
- She’s My Ever Lovin’ Machine by Shel Silverstein
- Ольга Берггольц – Два стихотворения дочерям
- Purity by Rabindranath Tagore
- My Paramour Was Loneliness
- For Someone, Somewhere, In Relation by Shaunna Harper
- Apology to Delia by William Cowper
- Petrarchan Sonnet: If no one else breathed in this wide, wide world by T. Wignesan
- Ojira To Her Lover
- Berenda Slough by Philip Levine
- Purple Heart Liz (My Girl At Woodstock) by Steve Sant
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
- SOMALIA CALLING by Satish Verma
- Solitudes by Satish Verma
- SNAKE CHARMING by Satish Verma
- Smiling Buddha by Satish Verma
- Singing Darkness by Satish Verma
- Sin and Prayer by Satish Verma
- Silver Trails by Satish Verma
- Sidelined by Satish Verma
- Shimmering by Satish Verma
- SELF-WATCH by Satish Verma
- Searing Heat by Satish Verma
- SCULPTURING by Satish Verma
- SCARY DANCE by Satish Verma
- REVOLT OF A SUTRA by Satish Verma
- REGENERATING by Satish Verma
- REFLECTING THE PRAISES by Satish Verma
- PURE STEEL by Satish Verma
- PROGNOSIS by Satish Verma
- PRESCIENCE by Satish Verma
- Praying Hurriedly by Satish Verma
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.