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:
- To A Young Lady. On Her Recovery From A Fever by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Николай Заболоцкий – На лестницах
- Pequeña niña mía by Mara Romero Torres
- Immortal Indian Legend by Vasishta Sharma Gudi
- Яков Полонский – На пути
- Allegory by Thomas Hood
- Grand Slam Night poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Somebody Has To by Shel Silverstein
- Bottles Of Sunshine by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Requests for Toy Piano by Tony Hoagland
- Mad Nuclear Mushrooms by Adeola Ikuomola
- He Reproves The Curlew by William Butler Yeats
- Эмиль Верхарн – Вперед
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабочий! (РОСТА №735)
- Land, Ho! by Thomas Edward Brown
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
- Post coitum omne animal triste est sive gallus et mulier by T. Wignesan.
- Plaidoirie for a “Prince” of Jaffna by T. Wignesan
- Petrarchan Sonnet: If no one else breathed in this wide, wide world by T. Wignesan
- Paris, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s poem: Paris by T. Wignesan.
- Nevermore, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s sonnet: Nevermore by T. Wignesan
- Master Valluvan, the long-misunderstood Tamil Mentor by T. Wignesan
- Limerick: Once a Great Leader with empty pockets by T. Wignesan
- Criss-Cross Acrostic*: Ai My Eye ! by T. Wignesan
- Copla Suelta: The One and the Same Dream by T. Wignesan
- Ballade: In favour of those called Decadents and Symbolists, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s Ballade: En faveur des dénommés Déca by T Wignesan
- Am I the Assassin or the Undertaker by T. Wignesan
- Whispers of Immortality by T. S. Eliot
- The Song Of The Jellicles by T. S. Eliot
- The Rum Tum Tugger by T. S. Eliot
- The Old Gumbie Cat by T. S. Eliot
- The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot
- The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot
- The Boston Evening Transcript by T. S. Eliot
- The Ad-Dressing Of Cats by T. S. Eliot
- Sweeney Erect by T. S. Eliot
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.