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:
- She got her wings by Mahak Raithatha S
- Николай Тихонов – Гулливер играет в карты
- Иннокентий Анненский – Франсис Жамм. Когда для всех меня не станет меж живыми
- Song—Farewell to the Banks of Ayr by Robert Burns
- Happy Teacher’s Day by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Rural Reflections
- Both ways I lose by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Bicycle Ride by Pat Mullan
- The Broken Field by Sara Teasdale
- The Red Earth of Kupungarri by Nicole M Nugent
- The Lover Asks Forgiveness Because Of His Many Moods by William Butler Yeats
- Two Months by Rudyard Kipling
- Eclogue:–The ‘Lotments by William Barnes
- Жан де Лафонтен – Утопленница
- For A Fatherless Son by Sylvia Plath
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
- When ‘Omer Smote ‘Is Bloomin’ Lyre by Rudyard Kipling
- When Earth’s Last Picture Is Painted by Rudyard Kipling
- What the People Said by Rudyard Kipling
- What Happened by Rudyard Kipling
- Ulster by Rudyard Kipling
- Two Months by Rudyard Kipling
- Two Kopjes by Rudyard Kipling
- Troopin’ by Rudyard Kipling
- Tommy by Rudyard Kipling
- Tin Fish by Rudyard Kipling
- The Young British Soldier by Rudyard Kipling
- The Wishing-Caps by Rudyard Kipling
- The Winners by Rudyard Kipling
- The Widow at Windsor by Rudyard Kipling
- The Truce of the Bear by Rudyard Kipling
- The Thousandth Man by Rudyard Kipling
- The Story of Uriah by Rudyard Kipling
- The Story of Ung by Rudyard Kipling
- The Sons of Martha by Rudyard Kipling
- The Songs of the Lathes by Rudyard Kipling
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.