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:
- In Imitation of Cowley : The Garden poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Anticipation, October 1803 by William Wordsworth
- For Him I Sing. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Британишский – Молния ударяет
- Poem (The lump of coal my parents teased) by William Matthews
- Robert Burns: On Sensibility: Fragment
- София Парнок – Тихо плачу и пою
- When the Walls Were White by Noele Martin
- Untitled XXII by Yunus Emre
- Isabella; Or, The Pot Of Basil: A Story From Boccaccio poem – John Keats poems
- Кондратий Рылеев – К N. N. (У вас в гостях бывать накладно)
- Жан де Лафонтен – Дафнис и Алцимадура
- When I peruse the Conquer’d Fame. by Walt Whitman
- Coole Park, 1929 by William Butler Yeats
- Нина Воронель – Запахи детства еще не забыты
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 Birch-Tree at Loschwitz poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Straw in the Street poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sinfonia Eroica poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Run to Death poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ralph to Mary poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Philosophy poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Out of Town poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- On the Wye in May poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- On the Threshold poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Oh, Is It Love? poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- New Love, New Life poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Magdalen poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- London Poets poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- London in July poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Lohengrin poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Last Words poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- June poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- In the Nower poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- In the Night poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
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.