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:
- Выхожу один я на дорогу – Лермонтов: Стихотворение, читать текст стиха Михаила Лермонтова – Poetry Monster
- A Zong by William Barnes
- The Hero — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Love’s Confession poem – Yuvraj Johri poems | Poetry Monster
- Robert Burns: To The Beautiful Miss Eliza J-N: On her Principles of Liberty and Equality.
- Pain Became My Friend Today © by Shannen Wrass
- Hokku Poems in Four Seasons by Yosa Buson
- Sonnet 25: Let those who are in favour with their stars by William Shakespeare
- Little Fugue by Sylvia Plath
- The Window Overlooking The Harbour
- Behold the hour by Robert Burns
- The Dream by Sylvia Plath
- The Quality of Courage by Stephen Vincent Benet
- On The Way To The Bottom by Shel Silverstein
- A Sure Sign by Georgi Ladonshchikov
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
- Anteater by Shel Silverstein
- All The Time In The World by Shel Silverstein
- All About You by Shel Silverstein
- Alimony by Shel Silverstein
- A Light In The Attic by Shel Silverstein
- A Front Row Seat To Hear Ole Johnny Sing by Shel Silverstein
- A Couple More Years by Shel Silverstein
- 25 Minutes To Go by Shel Silverstein
- 100,000 Pennies by Shel Silverstein
- Stir in Stillness by Shruti Talnikar
- Statistic by Shivam Pandya
- Projector by Shreekumar Varma
- Stir in Stillness by Shruti Talnikar
- Noe more unto my thoughts appeare by Sidney Godolphin
- Statistic by Shivam Pandya
- Night At The Marina by Shreekumar Varma
- Projector by Shreekumar Varma
- Lord when the wise men came from farr by Sidney Godolphin
- Kumarakom (after the boat tragedy) by Shreekumar Varma
- Noe more unto my thoughts appeare by Sidney Godolphin
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.