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:
- Fancy Dress by Siegfried Sassoon
- Николай Огарев – Прощанье с краем, откуда не уезжал
- Words Unspoken by Mark Olynyk
- Lyonnesse by Sylvia Plath
- Falling Asleep by Siegfried Sassoon
- Олег Григорьев – Дружба
- Petals poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- If by Rudyard Kipling
- To the State of Love. Or the Senses’ Festival. By John Cleveland
- Владимир Высоцкий – Маски
- Sleep of the Body the Soul’s Awakening by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Sonnet 80: O, how I faint when I of you do write by William Shakespeare
- Ghazal of Rumi by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Mirage by Neelam Sinha
- Everyone Sang by Siegfried Sassoon
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
- History by Robert Lowell
- Dolphin by Robert Lowell
- Now That You’re Gone by Roberto Cocina
- My World Destroyed by Roberto Cocina
- My Heart Screams by Roberto Cocina
- My Beach by Robert Saltzman
- Mortal Words by Robert McNamara
- Memories of West Street and Lepke by Robert Lowell
- Man And Wife by Robert Lowell
- Identification In Belfast by Robert Lowell
- Homecoming by Robert Lowell
- Home After Three Months Away by Robert Lowell
- High School Crush by Roberto Cocina
- Greengrocer by Robert McNamara
- For the Union Dead by Robert Lowell
- Fake Identity by Roberto Cocina
- Epilogue by Robert Lowell
- Don’t Disappear by Roberto Cocina
- Crossroads by Roger Hayes
- Artistic Soul Retold by Roberto Cocina
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.