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:
- Robert Burns: The Lass O’ Ballochmyle:
- A Singer by William Allingham
- A Tribute to Mr Murphy and the Blue Ribbon Army by William Topaz McGonagall
- Oh could my Mind
- Альфред Теннисон – Пересекая Черту
- Song—O let me in this ae night by Robert Burns
- Альфред де Мюссе – Прости
- Robert Burns: Reply To A Trimming Epistle Received From A Tailor:
- Юлия Друнина – Слалом
- from Book I, Paterson by William Carlos Williams
- Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 3 by Robert Burns
- The Answer by Rudyard Kipling
- Илья Эренбург – Легкий сон
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On Holy Willie:
- The Common Life by W H Auden
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
- Another Way Of Love by Robert Browning
- Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning
- An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Kar by Robert Browning
- Among the Rocks by Robert Browning
- Aix In Provence by Robert Browning
- Abt Vogler by Robert Browning
- A Woman’s Last Word by Robert Browning
- A Toccata Of Galuppi’s by Robert Browning
- A Serenade At The Villa by Robert Browning
- A Pretty Woman by Robert Browning
- A Lovers’ Quarrel by Robert Browning
- A Light Woman by Robert Browning
- A Grammarian’s Funeral by Robert Browning
- The Song of Death by Robert Burns
- The Ploughman’s Life by Robert Burns
- The Ordination by Robert Burns
- The Inventory by Robert Burns
- The Farewell to the Brethren of St. James’s Lodge by Robert Burns
- The Brigs of Ayr by Robert Burns
- Suppressed Stanzas of “The Vision” by Robert Burns
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.