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:
- Cambodian Flower by Norma Martiri
- At Malvern by William Lisle Bowles
- A little ink more or less! by Stephen Crane
- Dalliance of the Eagles, The. by Walt Whitman
- Vaishnavi Prakash – Vaishnavi Prakash
- The Holy Tree
- Федор Сологуб – Моя верховная воля
- Владимир Маяковский – Ни на Европу не надейся, ни на прокукиш, надейся только на свои руки (Главполитпросвет №343)
- Владимир Вишневский – Она идёт – как Восток алеет
- Precious Pearl by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Омар Хайям – Не оплакивай, смертный, вчерашних потерь
- Ольга Берггольц – Стихи о себе
- Money, for a Decent Human Life without You by Mike Yuan
- Dark Wood, Dark Water by Sylvia Plath
- Culver Dell And The Squire by William Barnes
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
- Locations and Times. by Walt Whitman
- Lo! Victress on the Peaks. by Walt Whitman
- Lessons. by Walt Whitman
- Laws for Creations. by Walt Whitman
- Last Invocation, The. by Walt Whitman
- Kosmos. by Walt Whitman
- Joy, Shipmate, Joy! by Walt Whitman
- Italian Music in Dakota. by Walt Whitman
- Inscription. by Walt Whitman
- Indications, The. by Walt Whitman
- In the New Garden in all the Parts. by Walt Whitman
- In Paths Untrodden. by Walt Whitman
- In Midnight Sleep. by Walt Whitman
- In Cabin’d Ships at Sea. by Walt Whitman
- I will Take an Egg Out of the Robin’s Nest. by Walt Whitman
- I was Looking a Long While. by Walt Whitman
- I Thought I was not Alone. by Walt Whitman
- I Sit and Look Out. by Walt Whitman
- I Sing the Body Electric. by Walt Whitman
- I saw Old General at Bay. by Walt Whitman
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.