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:
- Indian Weavers by Sarojini Naidu
- Song to the Evening Star by Thomas Campbell
- “Because I failed, shall I asperse the End” poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Маяковский – Вот для чего мужику самолет
- The Pleäce Our Own Ageän by William Barnes
- Any Night by Philip Levine
- Sonnet 53: What is your substance, whereof are you made by William Shakespeare
- Зинаида Александрова – Прятки
- Олег Бундур – Играю в школьном спектакле
- Вера Полозкова – И пока он вскакивает с кровати
- Engagements by Satish Verma
- Invocation To The Earth, February 1816 by William Wordsworth
- Sonet 49 by William Alexander
- Serendipity by Seema Gupta
- Parliament Hill Fields by Sylvia Plath
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 Blessed by William Butler Yeats
- The Black Tower by William Butler Yeats
- The Balloon Of The Mind by William Butler Yeats
- The Ballad Of The Foxhunter by William Butler Yeats
- The Ballad Of Moll Magee by William Butler Yeats
- The Ballad Of Father O’Hart by William Butler Yeats
- The Ballad Of Father Gilligan by William Butler Yeats
- The Arrow by William Butler Yeats
- The Apparitions by William Butler Yeats
- That The Night Come by William Butler Yeats
- Symbols by William Butler Yeats
- Swift’s Epitaph by William Butler Yeats
- Sweet Dancer by William Butler Yeats
- Supernatural Songs by William Butler Yeats
- Stream And Sun At Glendalough by William Butler Yeats
- Statistics by William Butler Yeats
- Spilt Milk by William Butler Yeats
- Song For The Severed Head In `The King Of The Great Clock Tower’ by William Butler Yeats
- Solomon To Sheba by William Butler Yeats
- Solomon And The Witch by William Butler Yeats
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.