The Pleasure of Princes

What pleasures have great princes? These: to know

Themselves reputed mad with pride or power;

To speak few words — few words and short bring low

This ancient house, that city with flame devour;

To make old men, their father’s enemies,

Drunk on the vintage of the former age;

To have great painters show their mistresses

Naked to the succeeding time; engage

The cunning of able, treacherous ministers

To serve, despite themselves, the cause they hate,

And leave a prosperous kingdom to their heirs

Nursed by the caterpillars of the state;

To keep their spies in good men’s hearts; to read

The malice of the wise, and act betimes;

To hear the Grand Remonstrances of greed

Led by the pure; cheat justice of her crimes;

To beget worthless sons and, being old,

By starlight climb the battlements, and while

The pacing sentry hugs himself for cold,

Keep vigil like a lover, muse and smile,

And think, to see from the grim castle steep

The midnight city below rejoice and shine:

“There my great demon grumbles in his sleep

And dreams of his destruction, and of mine.”

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Оливер Голдсмит – Пыл упований людям дан by Oliver Goldsmith
• Оливер Голдсмит – Послание в прозе и стихах by Oliver Goldsmith
• Оливер Голдсмит – Подношение by Oliver Goldsmith
• Оливер Голдсмит – Песенка by Oliver Goldsmith
• Оливер Голдсмит – Опровержение логики by Oliver Goldsmith
• Оливер Голдсмит – Оленья туша by Oliver Goldsmith
• Оливер Голдсмит – Каждому по заслугам by Oliver Goldsmith
• Оливер Голдсмит – Эпитафия Неду Пардону by Oliver Goldsmith
• Ольга Высотская – Звёздочки by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Здравствуй, праздник by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Я зубы стисну, губы закушу by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Волны by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Веселый поезд by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Снежный кролик by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Первые заморозки by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Обидчивая кукушка by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Гости by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Ежик by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская стихи: лучшие стихотворения для детей Высотской – Poetry Monster by Ольга Высоцкая
• Ольга Высотская – Детский сад by Ольга Высоцкая

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works