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:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Могила в мансарде
- The Wife Of Usher’s Well poem – Andrew Lang poems
- 19-19 by Michelle Bonczek Evory
- Roar Shack poem – Alice Fulton poems | Poetry Monster
- Зинаида Александрова – Сама
- Николай Языков – Песня (Когда умру, смиренно совершите)
- He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead by William Butler Yeats
- Sonnet poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet 08
- The Ancient Deception by Rixa White
- Огюст Барбье – Джульетта милая
- The Defunct Drugstore by Robert Lloyd Jaffe
- At The Close Of The Canvass poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Pond poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Polyphemus poem – Alfred Austin
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
- Loneliness is a prison by Vladimir Marku
- Little angel by Vladimir Marku
- Let Him In by Vishnu J Mohan
- I Will by Vishü Rita Krocha
- I turn my head by Vladimir Marku
- Her smile by Vladimir Marku
- Happiness by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Friends by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Forget-me-nots by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Evening balcony by Vladimir Marku
- Eve of spring by Vladimir Marku
- Eavesdropping myself by Vladimir Marku
- Desperation by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Demon by Vladimir Marku
- Breather by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Aquarium epoch by Vladimir Marku
- After Midnight by Walid Saba
- Adieu…, adieu…. by Vladimir Marku
- Who’s Who by W H Auden
- We’re Late by W H Auden
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.