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:
- To the State of Love. Or the Senses’ Festival. By John Cleveland
- The Queen’s Rival by Sarojini Naidu
- We Astronomers by Rebecca Elson
- Sonnet 152: In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn by William Shakespeare
- My Boy Jack by Rudyard Kipling
- Вера Павлова – Телефонные кнопки
- Николай Карамзин – Из письма к И. И. Дмитриеву (Что ж может быть любви и счастия быстрее)
- The Judge by Rabindranath Tagore
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Vachel Lindsay
- Solitude: An Ode poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- My Mother On An Evening In Late Summer by Mark Strand
- Philomela by Sir Philip Sidney
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нет меня, я покинул Расею
- In A Letter To C. P. Esq. In Imitation Of Shakspeare by William Cowper
- Николай Заболоцкий – Урал
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
- the-infernal-regions.html
- honeycomb.html
- Dark Matter by Aaron Baker
- polyphony_in_a_cathedral.html
- one_almost_might.html
- nursery_rhyme_for_a_twenty_first_birthday.html
- Not Love Perhaps
- night_piece.html
- never.html
- music.html
- meeting.html
- last_word_to_childhood.html
- june_sick_room.html
- houses.html
- flight_of_stairs.html
- epitaph_on_a_disturber_of_his_times.html
- Epitaph for Our Children
- empty_room.html
- earthfast.html
- don_juan.html
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
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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.