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:
- Ephemera by William Butler Yeats
- We put the urn aboard ship by Sappho
- Mulholland’s Contract by Rudyard Kipling
- Captivity poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Trout poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Resolution And Independence by William Wordsworth
- The Truce of the Bear by Rudyard Kipling
- WHAT ENDING by Satish Verma
- Your Voice by Walter William Safar
- Great Men Have Been Among Us by William Wordsworth
- The Shrike by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Корнилов – Лермонтов
- Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun by William Shakespeare
- Easter Snow by Winifred Mary Letts
- Arcades poem – John Milton poems
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
- On Imagination by Phillis Wheatley
- On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley
- Ode To Neptune by Phillis Wheatley
- Niobe in Distress by Phillis Wheatley
- Isaiah LXIII by Phillis Wheatley
- Goliath Of Gath by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To The Morning by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To The Evening by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To Humanity by Phillis Wheatley
- An Answer To The Rebus, By The Author Of These Poems by Phillis Wheatley
- A Rebus, By I. B. by Phillis Wheatley
- A Funeral Poem on the Death of C.E. by Phillis Wheatley
- A Farewel To America to Mrs. S. W. by Phillis Wheatley
- Subtlety
- An Invitation
- wonder life by PALLAVI SINGH
- Why do ye torture me? by Patrick Pearse
- When I Looked At You by Patrick Neo Mabiletsa
- What I Love by Pamela L. Laskin
- Twelve Years by Paul Celan
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.