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:
- Алексей Толстой – Ты почто, злая кручинушка
- Альфред де Мюссе – Песнь барберины
- Face Lift by Sylvia Plath
- Astrophel And Stella-Sonnet XXXI by Sir Philip Sidney
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Today by Siegfried Sassoon
- Song Of The Colours By Taj Mahomed
- Илья Эренбург – Я помню, давно уже я уловил
- Loneliness by Sappho
- Incense by Vachel Lindsay
- Canto XIII poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Федор Сологуб – Забыв о счастьи, о весельи
- To a foil’d European Revolutionaire. by Walt Whitman
- “The flower, full blown, now bends the stalk, now breaks” poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Высоцкий – Татуировка
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
- The Match poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Mower Against Gardens poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Garden poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Gallery poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The First Anniversary Of The Government Under O.C. poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Fair Singer poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Death of Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Coronet poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Character Of Holland poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Senec. Traged. Ex Thyeste Chor.2 poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Ros poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- On The Victory Obtained By Blake Over the Spaniards, In The Bay Of Scanctacruze, In The Island Of teneriff.1657 poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- On Mr. Milton’s Paradise Lost poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- On A Drop Of Dew poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Mourning poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Music’s Empire poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Last Instructions to a Painter poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- In Effigiem Oliveri Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Hortus poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome poem – Andrew Marvell poems
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.