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 Степанов – Осы
- Olney Hymn 67: Longing To Be With Christ by William Cowper
- Hymn For The Use Of The Sunday School At Olney by William Cowper
- The Rising and Falling of Trees by Patricia Fargnoli
- Гавриил Державин – О удовольствии
- Earthy Anecdote by Wallace Stevens
- Юлия Друнина – Да, сердце часто ошибалось
- Orlando Furioso Canto 7 by Ludovico Ariosto
- To The Ladies Who Saw Me Crowned poem – John Keats poems
- Coolness by Yosa Buson
- Ольга Берггольц – Два стихотворения дочерям
- Зинаида Александрова – Новые ясли
- Breathing Stars, Inspiration and the Labyrinth of Correspondence
- Extinguish Thou My Eyes by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Как Лера чудо искала
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
- Lorelei by Sylvia Plath
- Little Fugue by Sylvia Plath
- Lesbos by Sylvia Plath
- Leaving Early by Sylvia Plath
- Landowners by Sylvia Plath
- Lament by Sylvia Plath
- Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath
- Kindness by Sylvia Plath
- Jilted by Sylvia Plath
- Insomniac by Sylvia Plath
- Incommunicado by Sylvia Plath
- I Want, I Want by Sylvia Plath
- I Am Vertical by Sylvia Plath
- Heavy Woman by Sylvia Plath
- Hardcastle Crags by Sylvia Plath
- Gulliver by Sylvia Plath
- Green Rock, Winthrop Bay by Sylvia Plath
- Gold Mouths Cry by Sylvia Plath
- Goatsucker by Sylvia Plath
- Gigolo by Sylvia Plath
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.