A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок
(1880-1921)
In your hidden memories
There are fatal tidings of doom…
A curse on sacred traditions,
A desecration of happiness;
And a power so alluring
That I am ready to repeat the rumour
That you have brought angels down from heaven,
Enticing them with your beauty…
And when you mock at faith,
That pale, greyish-purple halo
Which I once saw before
Suddenly begins to shine above you.
Are you evil or good? You are altogether from another world
They say strange things about you
For some you are the Muse and a miracle.
For me you are torment and hell.
I do not know why in the hour of dawn,
When no strength was left to me,
I did not perish, but caught sight of your face
And begged you to comfort me.
I wanted us to be enemies;
Why then did you make me a present
Of a flowery meadow and of the starry firmament —
The whole curse of your beauty?
Your fearful caresses were more treacherous
Than the northern night,
More intoxicating than the golden champagne of Aï,
Briefer than a gypsy woman’s love…
And there was a fatal pleasure
In trampling on cherished and holy things;
And this passion, bitter as wormwood,
Was a frenzied delight for the heart!
A few random poems:
- St. Alphonsus Rodriguez poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нынче он закончил вехи
- Юрий Энтин – Слово про слово
- Picture of Daniel in the Lion’s Den at Hamilton Palace by William Wordsworth
- Househunting by Mike Yuan
- Lighting one candle by Yosa Buson
- Владимир Маяковский – Шумики, шумы и шумищи
- june_sick_room.html
- The People by William Butler Yeats
- Beyond the Moon by Vachel Lindsay
- The Song of Death by Robert Burns
- To A Lady On The Death Of Her Husband by Phillis Wheatley
- einstein-defining-special-relativity.html
- The Illusion of Love by Sarojini Naidu
- Олег Григорьев – Пляж давно опустел
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
- In Praise Of England poem – Alfred Austin
- Impromptu: To Frances Garnet Wolseley poem – Alfred Austin
- “`If you were mine, if you were mine” poem – Alfred Austin
- If I To You But Sorry Bring poem – Alfred Austin
- I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin
- Hymn To Death poem – Alfred Austin
- “Here, where the vine and fig bask hand in hand,” poem – Alfred Austin
- “Here have I learnt the little that I know” poem – Alfred Austin
- Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
- Gleaners Of Fame poem – Alfred Austin
- “Give me October’s meditative haze” poem – Alfred Austin
- “Give me a roof where Wisdom dwells” poem – Alfred Austin
- “For where, beneath one’s parent sky” poem – Alfred Austin
- “`Father, farewell! Be not distressed” poem – Alfred Austin
- Farewell To Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- Farewell To Italy poem – Alfred Austin
- Dedication To The Edition Of 1876 To H.J.A. poem – Alfred Austin
- Dedication To Lady Windsor poem – Alfred Austin
- “`Covet who will the patronage of Kings ” poem – Alfred Austin
- “Could I but leave men wiser by my song ” poem – Alfred Austin
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

Alexander Blok (1880-1921), also Block, was a Russian poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator and literary critic. A classic of Russian literature.