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:
- Николай Языков – Элегии (Свободен я: уже не трачу)
- Love and Folly by William Cullen Bryant
- Николай Гумилев – Кармен худа, коричневатый
- Ольга Седакова – То в теплом золоте, в широких переплетах
- The Sea and the Shadow by Paul Blackburn
- Владимир Британишский – Царство – одно, но России-то – две
- Whatif by Shel Silverstein
- Jeane’s Wedden Day In Mornen by William Barnes
- The Ancient Deception by Rixa White
- Robert Burns: Mr. William Smellie -A Sketch:
- The Early Purges by Seamus Heaney
- On The Final Submission Of The Tyrolese by William Wordsworth
- PRESCIENCE by Satish Verma
- Николай Некрасов – Демону
- Still Heart by Rabindranath Tagore
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 most noble bird, wife by Mukeshkumar Raval
- The Morning Breeze by Mousumi Guha Roy
- The ME inside by Muralidharan Mudaliar
- The Labour by Mousumi Guha Roy
- The Drum-Stick Tree by Murali Sivaramakrishnan
- the branches of pine tree by Mousumi Guha Roy
- The Beyond by Muralidharan Mudaliar
- Sting by Muralidharan Mudaliar
- Snake Pit by Muralidharan Mudaliar
- Six-Word Poem by Monty Gilmer
- Rain all along by Mukeshkumar Raval
- Poem by Murali Sivaramakrishnan
- Poem by Murali Sivaramakrishnan
- Parody on a Haiku by Issa by Monty Gilmer
- No Regrets by Muralidharan Mudaliar
- My Mother by Claude McKay
- My impure god and I by Murali Sivaramakrishnan
- My Dear Old Mother by Walter William Safar
- Mother by Shahida Latif
- Lost and Found by Muralidharan Mudaliar
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.