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:
- Love In Autumn by Sara Teasdale
- Олег Григорьев – На боку кобура болталась
- Шекспир – Неужто я, приняв любви венец – Сонет 114
- Олег Чупров – Шаньги
- Владислав Крапивин – На Диком Западе
- Give Me Back My Rags #12 by Vasko Popa
- Валерий Брюсов – Из песен Мальдуна
- Николай Заболоцкий – Предостережение
- For A Picture Of St. Dorothea poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Beautiful Heartbreak by Talha Jafri
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Чудом тени
- An Epitaph 2 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Hurry by Marie Howe
- AN ODE FOR BEN JONSON by Robert Herrick
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 126. Love is and was my Lord and King poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson 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
- The Land of the Exile by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Judge by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Journey by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Hero by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gift by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXXVIII: My Love, Once upon a Time by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXXIV: Do Not Go, My Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVIII: Your Questioning Eyes by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXIV: Do Not Keep to Yourself by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXII: When She Passed by Me by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXI: Why Did He Choose by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XX: Day After Day He Comes by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XVI: Hands Cling to Eyes by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XLVIII: Free Me by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XLVI: You Left Me by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XLV: To the Guests by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XLIV: Reverend Sir, Forgive by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XLIII: No, My Friends by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XLII: O Mad, Superbly Drunk by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XL: An Unbelieving Smile by Rabindranath Tagore
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.