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:
- Sandys Ghost ; A Proper Ballad on the New Ovid’s Metamorphosis poem – Alexander Pope
- Олег Бундур – Не верится
- Lines Written On A Blank Leaf In A Copy Of The Author’s Poem “The Excursion,” by William Wordsworth
- The Star by Sara Teasdale
- Dining-Room Tea by Rupert Brooke
- Total Recount by Pamela Griffiths
- Вероника Тушнова – Знаешь ли ты, что такое горе
- A Man (In Memory of H. of M.) by Thomas Hardy
- A Zong by William Barnes
- My mother was telling me by Vinko Kalinic
- Владимир Британишский – Девятое января
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о конькобежце на короткие дистанции, которого заставили бежать на длинную
- Федор Тютчев – Как бестолковы числа эти
- Robert Burns: Song Inscribed To Alexander Cunningham:
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
- Sonet 42 by William Alexander
- Sonet 41 by William Alexander
- Sonet 4 by William Alexander
- Sonet 39 by William Alexander
- Sonet 38 by William Alexander
- Sonet 36 by William Alexander
- Sonet 35 by William Alexander
- Sonet 34 by William Alexander
- Sonet 33 by William Alexander
- Sonet 32 by William Alexander
- Jonathan: The First Booke by William Alexander
- IX: Some Verses: This Day Design’d To Spoil The World of Peace by William Alexander
- IV: Some Verses: To The Author by William Alexander
- III: Some Verses: To M. Michaell Drayton by William Alexander
- Elegie IV: On The Death of Prince Henrie by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Twelfth Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Third Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Tenth Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Sixth Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Ninth Houre by William Alexander
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.