A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
There was a boy — not above childish fears —
With steps that faltered now and straining ears,
Timid, irresolute, yet dauntless still,
Who one bright dawn, when each remotest hill
Stood sharp and clear in Heaven’s unclouded blue
And all Earth shimmered with fresh-beaded dew,
Risen in the first beams of the gladdening sun,
Walked up into the mountains. One by one
Each towering trunk beneath his sturdy stride
Fell back, and ever wider and more wide
The boundless prospect opened. Long he strayed,
From dawn till the last trace of slanting shade
Had vanished from the canyons, and, dismayed
At that far length to which his path had led,
He paused — at such a height where overhead
The clouds hung close, the air came thin and chill,
And all was hushed and calm and very still,
Save, from abysmal gorges, where the sound
Of tumbling waters rose, and all around
The pines, by those keen upper currents blown,
Muttered in multitudinous monotone.
Here, with the wind in lovely locks laid bare,
With arms oft raised in dedicative prayer,
Lost in mute rapture and adoring wonder,
He stood, till the far noise of noontide thunder,
Rolled down upon the muffled harmonies
Of wind and waterfall and whispering trees,
Made loneliness more lone. Some Panic fear
Would seize him then, as they who seemed to hear
In Tracian valleys or Thessalian woods
The god’s hallooing wake the leafy solitudes;
I think it was the same: some piercing sense
Of Deity’s pervasive immanence,
The Life that visible Nature doth indwell
Grown great and near and all but palpable . . .
He might not linger, but with winged strides
Like one pursued, fled down the mountain-sides —
Down the long ridge that edged the steep ravine,
By glade and flowery lawn and upland green,
And never paused nor felt assured again
But where the grassy foothills opened. Then,
While shadows lengthened on the plain below
And the sun vanished and the sunset-glow
Looked back upon the world with fervid eye
Through the barred windows of the western sky,
Homeward he fared, while many a look behind
Showed the receding ranges dim-outlined,
Highland and hollow where his path had lain,
Veiled in deep purple of the mountain rain.
A few random poems:
- Sweet And Low poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 09 poem – John Milton poems
- St Patrick’s Day by Michael McGovern
- There is but there is not poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ольга Седакова – В винном отделе
- Aphrodite – The Birth by Uma Maheswari Anandane
- To The Royal Society
- Epitaph in a Church-Yard in Charleston, South Carolina poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Riden Hwome At Night by William Barnes
- Sonnet II. To ****** poem – John Keats poems
- Moving In Winter
- Владимир Маяковский – Чтоб жизнь трудовую наладить заново
- Neighing at the Slope by Mahmoud Darwish
- Exit by Rita Dove
- Владимир Корнилов – Гитара
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
- Ольга Седакова – Земля
- Ольга Седакова – Я жизнь в порыве жить
- Ольга Седакова – Хильдегарда
- Ольга Седакова – Вьюга
- Ольга Седакова – Всё, и сразу
- Ольга Седакова – Все труды
- Ольга Седакова – Вода-крестьянка
- Ольга Седакова – Ветер прощанья
- Ольга Седакова – Вениамин
- Ольга Седакова – Вечерняя песня
- Ольга Седакова – В винном отделе
- Ольга Седакова – В незапамятных зимах
- Ольга Седакова – В это зыбкое скопленье
- Ольга Седакова – Успение
- Ольга Седакова – Три зеркала
- Ольга Седакова – Три богини
- Ольга Седакова – Только время доходит сюда
- Ольга Седакова – То в теплом золоте, в широких переплетах
- Ольга Седакова – Старый поэт (Постскриптум)
- Ольга Седакова – Стансы третьи (Вино и плавание)
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
Alan Seeger (1888-1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk musician, Pete Seeger.