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:
- STONEWASHED by Satish Verma
- Ah, woe is me, my Mother dear by Robert Burns
- The Silence In The Church
- The Light By The Barn by William Stafford
- An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of St. Paul’s, Dr. John by Thomas Carew
- Spring – The First Pastoral ; or Damon poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Farewell To Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- Olive Branch by Satish Verma
- The Wheel by William Butler Yeats
- Haltering by Satish Verma
- The Falling Of The Leaves by William Butler Yeats
- England’s Answer by Rudyard Kipling
- Алексей Толстой – Ты не спрашивай, не распытывай
- The Recruit poem – A. E. Housman
- The Fairies’ Siege by Rudyard Kipling
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 Gardener XIX: You Walked by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XIV: I Was Walking by the Road by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XIII: I Asked Nothing by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener X: Let Your Work Be, Bride by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXXIV: Over the Green by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXXIII: She Dwelt on the Hillside by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXXI: Why Do You Whisper So Faintly by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXVI: The Fair Was On by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXV: At Midnight by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXVIII: None Lives For Ever, Brother by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXIX: I Hunt for the Golden Stag by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXIV: I Spent My Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LIX: O Woman by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LI: Then Finish the Last Song by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener IX: When I Go Alone at Night by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener IV: Ah Me by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Further Bank by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Flower-School by Rabindranath Tagore
- The First Jasmines by Rabindranath Tagore
More external links (open in a new tab):
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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
Alexander Blok (1880-1921), also Block, was a Russian poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator and literary critic. A classic of Russian literature.