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:
- Владимир Маяковский – Да здравствует III интернационал! (РОСТА № 140)
- Timothy Thomas Fortune – Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Robert Burns: Tam O’ Shanter: A Tale
- Practising Anthem
- Василий Жуковский – Государыне великой княгине на рождение
- Mr. Eliot’s Sunday Morning Service by T. S. Eliot
- Labor Pains
- The Night
- Sleep by Rabindranath Tagore
- Николай Глазков – Про пожары
- These Fought in Any Case poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Николай Глазков – Чингисхан, Батый, Аттила
- Souvenirs of Democracy. by Walt Whitman
- as_with_a_senryu_s_hardening_ridge.html
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 Reformers by Rudyard Kipling
- The Recall by Rudyard Kipling
- The Rabbi’s Song by Rudyard Kipling
- The Quesion by Rudyard Kipling
- The Queen’s Men by Rudyard Kipling
- The Puzzler by Rudyard Kipling
- The Prodigal Son by Rudyard Kipling
- The Pro-Consuls by Rudyard Kipling
- The Prayer of Miriam Cohen by Rudyard Kipling
- The Law of the Jungle by Rudyard Kipling
- The Last Rhyme of True Thomas by Rudyard Kipling
- The Last of the Light Brigade by Rudyard Kipling
- The Last Department by Rudyard Kipling
- The Land by Rudyard Kipling
- The Lament of the Border Cattle Thief by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ladies by Rudyard Kipling
- The Kingdom by Rudyard Kipling
- The Jester by Rudyard Kipling
- The Jacket by Rudyard Kipling
- THE IRISH GUARDS 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.