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:
- Seven Watchmen by Rudyard Kipling
- Innocent Steps by Vaishnavi Prakash
- The Gods of the Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling
- O Beauty, Passing Beauty! poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- I am the earthworm, Lord of the Underworld by Raj Arumugam
- Гавриил Державин – Надежда на бога
- John Kinsella’s Lament For Mrs. Mary Moore by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Маяковский – Универсальный ответ
- Before The Snow poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A General Summary by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Маяковский – Если белогвардейщину не добьем совсем… (РОСТА №148)
- Владимир Высоцкий – Дорожная история
- Olney Hymn 52: For The Poor by William Cowper
- Feelings Of A Noble Biscayan At One Of Those Funerals by William Wordsworth
- Альфред Теннисон – Прощание
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 Haymakers’ Song poem – Alfred Austin
- Love’s Blindness poem – Alfred Austin
- At Her Grave poem – Alfred Austin
- At Delphi poem – Alfred Austin
- As Dies The Year poem – Alfred Austin
- Any Poet At Any Time poem – Alfred Austin
- An Experiment In Translation poem – Alfred Austin
- An Autumn Picture poem – Alfred Austin
- An Autumn Homily poem – Alfred Austin
- An Autumn-Blooming Rose poem – Alfred Austin
- An April Love poem – Alfred Austin
- An April Fool poem – Alfred Austin
- An Answer poem – Alfred Austin
- “Although no stupid scoffer, I” poem – Alfred Austin
- All Hail To The Czar! poem – Alfred Austin
- Alfred’s Song poem – Alfred Austin
- A Te Deum poem – Alfred Austin
- A Tale Of True Love poem – Alfred Austin
- A Spring Carol poem – Alfred Austin
- A Souless Singer 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.