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:
- The Confederate Flags poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mariana poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- All’s Well! by John Oxenham
- A Tombless Epitaph by Samuel Coleridge
- Sonnet 105: Let not my love be called idolatry by William Shakespeare
- The Russian Fugitive by William Wordsworth
- Валерий Брюсов – Из детской книжки
- At Sea
- Off the Ground by Walter de la Mare
- For A Fatherless Son by Sylvia Plath
- Bare Tongue by Satish Verma
- Sonnet Xi
- Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись на иллюминацию, представленную ее императорскому Величеству от их императорских высочеств в Ораниенбауме 1750 года июля 31 дня
- Act of Union by Seamus Heaney
- Robert Burns: Talk Of Him That’s Far Awa:
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
- Ольга Седакова – Земля
- Ольга Седакова – Я жизнь в порыве жить
- Ольга Седакова – Хильдегарда
- Ольга Седакова – Вьюга
- Ольга Седакова – Всё, и сразу
- Ольга Седакова – Все труды
- Ольга Седакова – Вода-крестьянка
- Ольга Седакова – Ветер прощанья
- Ольга Седакова – Вениамин
- Ольга Седакова – Вечерняя песня
- Ольга Седакова – В винном отделе
- Ольга Седакова – В незапамятных зимах
- Ольга Седакова – В это зыбкое скопленье
- Ольга Седакова – Успение
- Ольга Седакова – Три зеркала
- Ольга Седакова – Три богини
- Ольга Седакова – Только время доходит сюда
- Ольга Седакова – То в теплом золоте, в широких переплетах
- Ольга Седакова – Старый поэт (Постскриптум)
- Ольга Седакова – Стансы третьи (Вино и плавание)
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.