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:
- Untitled II by Yunus Emre
- Bredon Hill poem – A. E. Housman
- Astrophel and Stella: XCII by Sir Philip Sidney
- The Fallen Elm poem – Alfred Austin
- Dawn Revisited by Rita Dove
- Sonet 52 by William Alexander
- Владимир Маяковский – Дурацкий сон (РОСТА №234)
- The Homeless Man by Mary TallMountain
- Two Lovers And A Beachcomber By The Real Sea by Sylvia Plath
- A King’s Soliloquy [On the Night of His Funeral] by Thomas Hardy
- Olney Hymn 47: The Hidden Life by William Cowper
- Ode to My Guitar by William Wright Harris
- Николай Заболоцкий – Небесная Севилья
- Motto prefixed to the Author’s first Publication by Robert Burns
- The Scarecrow by Ross D Tyler
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 Ever-Patient Woman poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sun Light poem – Ammar Hussain poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sacred Epiphany poem – Ammar Nadeem poems | Poems and Poetry
- Prize poem – Amanda James DIll poems | Poems and Poetry
- Poems from Makiwane poem – Amitabh Mitra poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Peace of Mind poem – Amit Shankar Saha poems | Poems and Poetry
- Oh Mother poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ode poem – Amr ibn Kulthum poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nocturno poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nigra Sum poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
- My Mask poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mujer Libanesa I poem – Amir Ibn Tawfik poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mother Ocean poem – Amy E. Johnsen poems | Poems and Poetry
- Milagros Retenidos poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Midnight poem – Amy Michelle Mosier poems | Poems and Poetry
- Love is Immortal poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ka ‘Ba poem – Amiri Baraka poems | Poems and Poetry
- In an Effort to Translate Solitude poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
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.