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:
- Inside/Outside The Window
- Sorry by Tom Mukasa
- Низами Гянджеви – О кипарис с плавной поступью мри
- Niagara by Vachel Lindsay
- Владимир Маяковский – Севастопольский корреспондент “Матен” сообщает… (РОСТА №507)
- Lit Instructor by William Stafford
- The Gardener XLII: O Mad, Superbly Drunk by Rabindranath Tagore
- Sonnet CX by William Shakespeare
- Two sparrows and my heart by Nizar Sartawi
- Epitaph on “Wee Johnnie” by Robert Burns
- The Wind In Woone’s Feäce by William Barnes
- Владимир Британишский – Смешанный брак
- They Thought Her Crazy by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Let Him In by Vishnu J Mohan
- Sonnet Xvi Who Shall Invoke Her
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
- At The Abbey Theatre by William Butler Yeats
- At Galway Races by William Butler Yeats
- At Algeciras; A Meditaton Upon Death by William Butler Yeats
- Are You Content? by William Butler Yeats
- Another Song Of A Fool by William Butler Yeats
- An Irish Airman Forsees His Death by William Butler Yeats
- An Image From A Past Life by William Butler Yeats
- An Appointment by William Butler Yeats
- An Acre Of Grass by William Butler Yeats
- All Things Can Tempt Me by William Butler Yeats
- Against Unworthy Praise by William Butler Yeats
- After Long Silence by William Butler Yeats
- Adam’s Curse by William Butler Yeats
- A Woman Homer Sung by William Butler Yeats
- A Thought From Propertius by William Butler Yeats
- A Stick Of Incense by William Butler Yeats
- A Statesman’s Holiday by William Butler Yeats
- A Song From ‘The Player Queen’ by William Butler Yeats
- A Song by William Butler Yeats
- A Prayer On Going Into My House by William Butler Yeats
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.