A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок
(1880-1921)
III
Our sons have gone
to serve the Reds
to serve the Reds
to risk their heads!
O bitter,bitter pain,
Sweet living!
A torn overcoat
an Austrian gun!
-To get the bourgeosie
We’ll start a fire
a worldwide fire, and drench it
in blood-
The good Lord bless us!
-O you bitter bitterness,
boring boredom,
deadly boredom.
This is how I will
spend my time.
This is how I will
scratch my head,
munch on seeds,
some sunflower seeds,
play with my knife
play with my knife.
You bourgeosie, fly as a sparrow!
I’ll drink your blood,
your warm blood, for love,
for dark-eyed love.
God, let this soul, your servant,
rest in peace.
Such boredom!
XII
… On they march with sovereign tread…
‘Who else goes there? Come out! I said
come out!’ It is the wind and the red
flag plunging gaily at their head.
The frozen snow-drift looms in front.
‘Who’s in the drift! Come out! Come here!’
There’s only the homeless mongrel runt
limping wretchedly in the rear …
‘You mangy beast, out of the way
before you taste my bayonet.
Old mongrel world, clear off I say!
I’ll have your hide to sole my boot!
The shivering cur, the mongrel cur
bares his teeth like a hungry wolf,
droops his tail, but does not stir …
‘Hey answer, you there, show yourself.’
‘Who’s that waving the red flag?’
‘Try and see! It’s as dark as the tomb!’
‘Who’s that moving at a jog
trot, keeping to the back-street gloom?’
‘Don’t you worry ~ I’ll catch you yet;
better surrender to me alive!’
‘Come out, comrade, or you’ll regret
it ~ we’ll fire when I’ve counted five!’
Crack ~ crack ~ crack! But only the echo
answers from among the eaves …
The blizzard splits his seams, the snow
laughs wildly up the wirlwind’s sleeve …
Crack ~ crack ~ crack!
Crack ~ crack ~ crack!
… So they march with sovereign tread …
Behind them limps the hungry dog,
and wrapped in wild snow at their head
carrying a blood-red flag ~
soft-footed where the blizzard swirls,
invulnerable where bullets crossed ~
crowned with a crown of snowflake pearls,
a flowery diadem of frost,
ahead of them goes Jesus Christ.
A few random poems:
- Fragment of an Ode to Maia poem – John Keats poems
- Robert Burns: Thanksgiving For A National Victory:
- Владимир Маяковский – Раньше. Теперь
- Eclogue:–A Ghost by William Barnes
- Ballade Of True Wisdom poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Vaudracour And Julia by William Wordsworth
- On His Grotto at Twickenham poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Sonnet 25: Let those who are in favour with their stars by William Shakespeare
- Epitaph on a Noisy Polemic by Robert Burns
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. In June. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- Sheppard’s Quest by Shawn Ervin
- Summer – The Second Pastoral; or Alexis poem – Alexander Pope
- Christmas Holidays by Thomas Hood
- Федор Сологуб – Я люблю мою темную землю
- Evening in a Sugar Orchard by Robert Frost
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
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Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
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- Farmers Market by Mary TallMountain
- Let Him Free by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Eternal Existence by Mark Miller
- Keeping Things Whole by Mark Strand
- Et Le Marbre Creuse… by Martine Morillon-Carreau
- Important thing’s in life by Martin Smith
- Images by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Illusions by Mark R Slaughter
- If Only by Mary Etta Metcalf
- I, or Someone Like Me by Marvin Bell
- He Said To by Marvin Bell
- Grumpy Old Man by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Giving Myself Up by Mark Strand
- Ghosts by Martina Reisz Newberry
- From The Long Sad Party by Mark Strand
- Forty Years Later by Martin Willitts, Jr
- Farmers Market by Mary TallMountain
- Eternal Existence by Mark Miller
More external links (open in a new tab):
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Alexander Blok (1880-1921), also Block, was a Russian poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator and literary critic. A classic of Russian literature.