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:
- Some One by Walter de la Mare
- Cocaine Lil and Morphine Sue by W H Auden
- Autumn by William Morris
- My Paramour Was Loneliness
- Владимир Высоцкий – Серенада Соловья-разбойника
- To a person, they say, frigid, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s poem: A celle que l’on fit froide by T. Wignesan
- How a Little Girl Danced by Vachel Lindsay
- blessing for sound health by matthew scott harris
- A Watch Sent Home To Mrs. Eliz: King, Wrapt In Theis Verses by William Strode
- Freddy by Stevie Smith
- Outset by Mike Yuan
- When I Came Last to Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- Natural History by Sylvia Plath
- The Coming Of Winter poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Winter dusk at the railway halt by Sunil Sharma
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
- On Hermocratia (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Flaxman’s Penelope by William Cowper
- On Flatteries (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Female Inconstancy (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Envy (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Delia (Bid Adieu, My Sad Heart) by William Cowper
- On An Ugly Fellow (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On An Old Woman (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On An Infant (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A True Friend (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Thief (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Spaniel, Called Beau, Killing A Young Bird by William Cowper
- On A Similar Character (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Plant Of Virgin’s-Bower, Designed To Cover A Garden-seat by William Cowper
- On A Mistake In His Translation Of Homer by William Cowper
- On A Miser (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Miser, 3 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Miser, 2 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Mischievous Bull, Which The Owner Him Sold At The Author’s Instance by William Cowper
- On A Good Man (From The Greek) by William Cowper
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.