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:
- Hamlet As Told On The Street by Shel Silverstein
- The Benefactors by Rudyard Kipling
- Robert Burns: Yon Wild Mossy Mountains:
- Владимир Степанов – Цыплята (Буква Ц)
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Люцерн
- A Faery’s Lament poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- Song Of The Wandering Jew by William Wordsworth
- Baseball and Writing by Marianne Moore
- Darkness
- Impromptu: To Frances Garnet Wolseley poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Высоцкий – Дела
- Sonnet LXIX by William Shakespeare
- Epitaph for William Nicol, High School, Edinburgh by Robert Burns
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Затмение
- Аля Кудряшева – И если Богу нужны гимнасты
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
- Prisoner by Rabindranath Tagore
- Playthings by Rabindranath Tagore
- Patience by Rabindranath Tagore
- Passing Breeze by Rabindranath Tagore
- Parting Words by Rabindranath Tagore
- Paper Boats by Rabindranath Tagore
- Only Thee by Rabindranath Tagore
- On the Seashore by Rabindranath Tagore
- Old And New by Rabindranath Tagore
- Ocean of Forms by Rabindranath Tagore
- O Fool by Rabindranath Tagore
- My Song by Rabindranath Tagore
- My Friend by Rabindranath Tagore
- Moment’s Indulgence by Rabindranath Tagore
- Maya by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XXXIX: There Is a Looker-On by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XXVIII: I Dreamt by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XXII: I Shall Gladly Suffer by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XVIII: Your Days by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XVI: She Dwelt Here by the Pool 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.