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:
- Upon A Dying Lady by William Butler Yeats
- F?sulan Idyl by Walter Savage Landor
- Robert Burns: The Winter It Is Past:
- Вероника Тушнова – Тропа, петляя и пыля
- Владимир Маяковский – Война окончена… (РОСТА №898)
- The Bird Has Vanished by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- America To Great Britain by Washington Allston
- Валерий Брюсов – Пиршество войны
- Владимир Маяковский – Почему нет помощи от Румынии (Главполитпросвет №327)
- Низами Гянджеви – Где путь в кумирню
- A Woman’s Last Word by Robert Browning
- he_who_creates_re_creates_himself.html
- Владимир Британишский – Феодосия, Керчь, Таганрог
- Dolphin by Robert Lowell
- A Performance At Hog Theater by Russell Edson
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 Dark House by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Choral Union by Siegfried Sassoon
- Survivors by Siegfried Sassoon
- Suicide In The Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon
- Stretcher Case by Siegfried Sassoon
- Storm and Sunlight by Siegfried Sassoon
- Stand-To: Good Friday Morning by Siegfried Sassoon
- South Wind by Siegfried Sassoon
- Song-Books of the War by Siegfried Sassoon
- Slumber-Song by Siegfried Sassoon
- Sick Leave by Siegfried Sassoon
- Secret Music by Siegfried Sassoon
- Remorse by Siegfried Sassoon
- Reconciliation by Siegfried Sassoon
- Prelude to an Unwritten Masterpiece by Siegfried Sassoon
- Picture-Show by Siegfried Sassoon
- Parted by Siegfried Sassoon
- October by Siegfried Sassoon
- Noah by Siegfried Sassoon
- Nimrod in September by Siegfried Sassoon
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.