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:
- Ольга Седакова – Давид поет Саулу
- When to the sessions of sweet silent thought (Sonnet 30) by William Shakespeare
- A Man, They Made a God by Walid Saba
- Haunted by you by Melissa Skelton
- The Effect by Siegfried Sassoon
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Vachel Lindsay
- Новелла Матвеева – Закон песен
- Николай Карамзин – Сильфида
- It Would poem – Alice Notley
- Song—Fragment—Leezie Lindsay by Robert Burns
- Composed After A Journey Across The Hambleton Hills, Yorkshire by William Wordsworth
- Владимир Маяковский – Порт
- In Praise of Songs that Die by Vachel Lindsay
- American Soil by Walter William Safar
- Playthings by Rabindranath Tagore
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
- To Delia by William Cowper
- To A Young Friend, On His Arriving At Cambridge Wet, When No Rain Had Fallen There by William Cowper
- The Symptoms of Love by William Cowper
- The Silkworm by William Cowper
- The Secrets Of Divine Love Are To Be Kept by William Cowper
- The Rose by William Cowper
- The Perfect Sacrifice by William Cowper
- The Parrot by William Cowper
- The Lily And The Rose by William Cowper
- The Ice Palace by William Cowper
- The Distress’d Travellers; or, Labour in Vain by William Cowper
- Sunset And Sunrise (Translated From Owen) by William Cowper
- Strada’s Nightingale by William Cowper
- Sonnet To Henry Cowper, Esq. by William Cowper
- Sonnet To A Young Lady On Her Birth-Day by William Cowper
- Repose In God by William Cowper
- Pity For Poor Africans by William Cowper
- On The Queen’s Visit To London, The Night Of The 17th March 1789 by William Cowper
- On The Loss Of The “Royal George” by William Cowper
- On The Ice Islands Seen Floating In The German Ocean by William Cowper
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.