The Bayadere

A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)

Flaked, drifting clouds hide not the full moon’s rays

More than her beautiful bright limbs were hid

By the light veils they burned and blushed amid,

Skilled to provoke in soft, lascivious ways,

And there was invitation in her voice

And laughing lips and wonderful dark eyes,

As though above the gates of Paradise

Fair verses bade, Be welcome and rejoice!

O’er rugs where mottled blue and green and red

Blent in the patterns of the Orient loom,

Like a bright butterfly from bloom to bloom,

She floated with delicious arms outspread.

There was no pose she took, no move she made,

But all the feverous, love-envenomed flesh

Wrapped round as in the gladiator’s mesh

And smote as with his triple-forked blade.

I thought that round her sinuous beauty curled

Fierce exhalations of hot human love, —

Around her beauty valuable above

The sunny outspread kingdoms of the world;

Flowing as ever like a dancing fire

Flowed her belled ankles and bejewelled wrists,

Around her beauty swept like sanguine mists

The nimbus of a thousand hearts’ desire.

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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 

• Николай Языков – Песня (Когда умру, смиренно совершите) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песня (Дороже почестей и злата) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песня (Всему человечеству) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Счастлив, кому судьбою дан) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Мы любим шумные пиры) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песни (Душа героев и певцов) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Песнь баяна (Люблю смотреть на месяц ясной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Переезд через приморские Альпы by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – П. В. Киреевскому (Ты крепкий, праведный стоятель) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – П. Н. Шепелеву (Ты мой приятель задушевной) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Поденщик, тяжело навьюченный дровами) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Ночь безлунная звездами) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Мне ль позабыть огонь и живость) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Любовь, любовь! веселым днем) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (Есть много всяких мук – и много я их знаю) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегия (День ненастный, темный; тучи) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегии (Свободен я: уже не трачу) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Элегии (Скажи: когда) by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Елагиной by Николай Языков
• Николай Языков – Е. Н. Мандрыкиной (В младой груди моей о вас воспоминанья) by Николай Языков

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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.

 

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