The Last Leap
by Adam Lindsay Gordon
ALL is over! fleet career,
Dash of greyhound slipping thongs,
Flight of falcon, bound of deer,
Mad hoof-thunder in our rear,
Cold air rushing up our lungs,
Din of many tongues.
Once again, one struggle good,
One vain effort;—he must dwell
Near the shifted post, that stood
Where the splinters of the wood,
Lying in the torn tracks, tell
How he struck and fell.
Crest where cold drops beaded cling,
Small ear drooping, nostril full,
Glazing to a scarlet ring,
Flanks and haunches quivering,
Sinews stiffening, void and null,
Dumb eyes sorrowful.
Satin coat that seems to shine
Duller now, black braided tress
That a softer hand than mine
Far away was wont to twine,
That in meadows far from this
Softer lips might kiss.
All is over! this is death,
And I stand to watch thee die,
Brave old horse! with bated breath
Hardly drawn through tight-clenched teeth,
Lip indented deep, but eye
Only dull and dry.
Musing on the husk and chaff
Gathered where life’s tares are sown,
Thus I speak, and force a laugh,
That is half a sneer and half
An involuntary groan,
In a stifled tone—
‘Rest, old friend! thy day, though rife
With its toil, hath ended soon;
We have had our share of strife,
Tumblers in the masque of life,
In the pantomime of noon
Clown and pantaloon.
‘With a flash that ends thy pain,
Respite and oblivion blest
Come to greet thee. I in vain
Fall: I rise to fall again:
Thou hast fallen to thy rest—
And thy fall is best
A few random poems:
- drunkenness.html
- “According to the Mighty Working” by Thomas Hardy
- Astrophel and Stella: LXIV by Sir Philip Sidney
- to_his_coy_mistress.html
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Нарядно выстлав дол, взбегая на холмы
- May You Be Like An Evergreen by Ronald G. Auguste
- Silver by Walter de la Mare
- The Half-way House poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Олег Чупров – Душа
- Lines Written In Dejection by William Butler Yeats
- Winter – The Fourth Pastoral, or Daphne poem – Alexander Pope
- The Return by Sara Teasdale
- The Sad Shepherd by William Butler Yeats
- Николай Гумилев – Кенгуру
- Tom May’s Death poem – Andrew Marvell poems
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
- A Channel Passage by Rupert Brooke
- 1914 V: The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
- 1914 IV: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- 1914 III: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- 1914 II: Safety by Rupert Brooke
- 1914 I: Peace by Rupert Brooke
- When Day Is Done by Rabindranath Tagore
- When and Why by Rabindranath Tagore
- Vocation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Untimely Leave by Rabindranath Tagore
- Twelve O’Clock by Rabindranath Tagore
- Threshold by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Wicked Postman by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Unheeded Pageant by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Source by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Sailor by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Recall by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Lotus by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Little Big Man by Rabindranath Tagore
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

Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833 – 1870) was an Australian or British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He is considered to be one of the first national Australian poets.