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:
- A Sense of Humor by Vachel Lindsay
- I like to let the word fly about by Murali Sivaramakrishnan
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – В дальний путь идут корабли
- Celebrate Spring Today poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Омар Хайям – Муки старят красавиц
- My Mother Would Be a Falconress by Robert Duncan
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня про правого инсайда
- Владимир Маяковский – Смотри, крестьянин (РОСТА №463)
- Conscious by Wilfred Owen
- Faith Healing by Philip Larkin
- Lines On The Expected Invasion, 1803 by William Wordsworth
- Empty Pages by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Life Is Motion by Wallace Stevens
- The Innocence by Robert Creeley
- Василий Жуковский – Мщение
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 End by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Child-Angel by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Chanpa Flower by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Boat by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Banyan Tree by Rabindranath Tagore
- Superior by Rabindranath Tagore
- Strong Mercy by Rabindranath Tagore
- Still Heart by Rabindranath Tagore
- Song Unsung by Rabindranath Tagore
- Sleep by Rabindranath Tagore
- Sit Smiling by Rabindranath Tagore
- Silent Steps by Rabindranath Tagore
- Signet of Eternity by Rabindranath Tagore
- She by Rabindranath Tagore
- Senses by Rabindranath Tagore
- Seashore by Rabindranath Tagore
- Salutation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Sail Away by Rabindranath Tagore
- Roaming Cloud by Rabindranath Tagore
- Purity 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.