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:
- “Veruca Salt…” by Roald Dahl
- Илья Зданевич – Ослиный Бох
- An Adventure in the Life of King James V of Scotland by William Topaz McGonagall
- Владимир Корнилов – Флейта в метро
- Владимир Гиппиус – Узел
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – Водовоз
- Lo! Victress on the Peaks. by Walt Whitman
- Li Po, the moon and me by Raj Arumugam
- Алексей Жемчужников – Прелюдия к прощальным песням
- In The Carolinas by Wallace Stevens
- Владимир Набоков – Спроси у хрустальной луны
- Владимир Корнилов – На колоннаде
- Leaving and Leaving You by Sophie Hannah
- One Step Backward Taken by Robert Frost
- Hymn Before Action by Rudyard Kipling
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
- PLEADING by Satish Verma
- PERCEPTION by Satish Verma
- Pandering by Satish Verma
- OPTIONS by Satish Verma
- Olive Branch by Satish Verma
- OFF-LIMITS by Satish Verma
- Oblivion by Satish Verma
- O You by Satish Verma
- NIGHT RAID by Satish Verma
- Night Light by Satish Verma
- Muttering by Satish Verma
- MOURNING by Satish Verma
- Moony Affair by Satish Verma
- Monument by Satish Verma
- Metaphysical View by Satish Verma
- MANY NAMESAKES by Satish Verma
- Lying on a Slab by Satish Verma
- Lunar Eclipse by Satish Verma
- Live Baits by Satish Verma
- Listening To Rwanda Genocide 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.