Every wild she-bird has nest and mate in the warm April weather,
But a captive woman, made for love – no mate, no nest has she.
In the spring of young desire, young men and maids are wed together,
And the happy mothers flaunt their bliss for all the world to see:
Nature’s sacramental feast for these – an empty board for me.
I, a young maid once, an old maid now, deposed, despised, forgotten –
I, like them have thrilled with passion and have dreamed of nuptial rest,
Of the trembling life within me of my children unbegotten,
Of a breathing new-born body to my yearning bosom prest,
Of the rapture of a little soft mouth drinking at my breast.
Time, that heals so many sorrows, keeps mine ever freshly aching;
Though my face is growing furrowed and my brown hair turning white,
Still I mourn my irremediable loss, asleep or waking –
Still I hear my son’s voice calling “mother” in the dead of night,
And am haunted by my girl’s eyes that will never see the light.
O my children that I might have had! my children, lost for ever!
O the goodly years that might have been – now desolate and bare!
O malignant God or Fate, what have I done that I should never
Take my birthright like the others, take the crown that women wear,
And possess the common heritage to which all flesh is heir?

A few random poems:
- On the Nativity of Christ by William Dunbar
- I have a dream
- Владимир Маяковский – Ров (РОСТА №181)
- Traveling Dream by Marge Piercy
- Olney Hymn 59: A Living And A Dead Faith by William Cowper
- Николай Заболоцкий – Дождь
- A Hymn To Venus by Sappho
- Низами Гянджеви – Лишь с луной сравниться
- If Thou Could’st Empty All Thyself Of Self by Thomas Edward Brown
- A man who set his journey back to time by Preeth Nambiar
- Tell Me
- Troopin’ by Rudyard Kipling
- Ugliest Man In Town by Shel Silverstein
- Юрий Коринец – Кто очень болен
- Robert Burns: News, Lassies, News:
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
- V: Some Verses: To The Author Parthenius by William Alexander
- To Prince Charles by William Alexander
- To his Majestie by William Alexander
- The Sonnet, The Lady, And The Prince by William Alexander
- The Roses And The Mothers Cannot Choose by William Alexander
- Sonet 58 by William Alexander
- Sonet 57 by William Alexander
- Sonet 56 by William Alexander
- Sonet 55 by William Alexander
- Sonet 54 by William Alexander
- Sonet 53 by William Alexander
- Sonet 52 by William Alexander
- Sonet 51 by William Alexander
- Sonet 50 by William Alexander
- Sonet 5 by William Alexander
- Sonet 49 by William Alexander
- Sonet 48 by William Alexander
- Sonet 47 by William Alexander
- Sonet 44 by William Alexander
- Sonet 43 by William Alexander
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
Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.