Thou ‘adst to my soul no title or pretence;
I was mine own, and free,
Till I had given myself to thee;
But thou hast kept me slave and prisoner since.
Well, since so insolent thou ‘rt grown,
Fond tyrant! I’ll depose thee from thy throne;
Such outrages must not admitted be
In an elective monarchy.
Part of my heart by gift did to thee fall;
My country, kindred, and my best
Acquaintance, were to share the rest;
But thou, their covetous neighbour, drav’st out all:
Nay more; thou mak’st me worship thee,
And wouldst the rule of my religion be:
Did ever tyrant claim such power as you,
To be both emperor and pope too?
The public miseries, and my private fate,
Deserve some tears; but greedy thou
(Insatiate maid!) wilt not allow
That I one drop from thee should alienate:
Nor wilt thou grant my sins a part,
Though the sole cause of most of them thou art;
Counting my tears thy tribute and thy due,
Since first mine eyes I gave to you.
Thou all my joys and all my hopes dost claim;
Thou ragest like a fire in me,
Converting all things into thee;
Nought can resist, or not encrease the flame:
Nay, every grief and every fear
Thou dost devour, unless thy stamp it bear:
Thy presence, like the crowned basilisk’s breath,
All other serpents puts to death.
As men in hell are from diseases free,
So from all other ills am I;
Free from their known formality:
But all pains eminently lie in thee!
Alas, alas! I hope in vain
My conquer’d soul from out thine hands to gain;
Since all the natives there thou ‘ast overthrown,
And planted garrisons of thine own.
A few random poems:
- In A Railroad Station by Sara Teasdale
- Who is at my door? by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Where Lies The Land To Which Yon Ship Must Go? by William Wordsworth
- The Voice by Shel Silverstein
- Sonet 41 by William Alexander
- Religious Obsession — translation from Dharmamoha by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVII: Trust Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- Владимир Высоцкий – Дорога, дорога, счёта нет шагам
- English Poetry. Henry Livingston. To the Memory of Sarah Livingston. Генри Ливингстон.
- Федор Сологуб – Во мне мечты мои цветут
- Poem Reaching For Something by Quincy Troupe
- Степан Щипачев – Опять тревожно, больно сердцу стало
- Ярослав Смеляков – Русский язык
- THE IRISH GUARDS by Rudyard Kipling
- What Are Big Girls Made Of? by Marge Piercy
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
- Такахама Кёси – Ливень прошел
- Такахама Кёси – Кончик трости моей
- Такахама Кёси – Кажется мне
- Такахама Кёси – Как ярко сияет
- Такахама Кёси – Как никогда
- Такахама Кёси – Иокогама в утро моего возвращения из Франции
- Такахама Кёси – Грущу о былом
- Такахама Кёси – Драчливые петухи
- Такахама Кёси – Давнишний приятель
- Степан Щипачев – Зрение
- Степан Щипачев – Жил мальчик в деревне
- Степан Щипачев – Застольное слово
- Степан Щипачев – За селом синел далекий лес
- Степан Щипачев – Высота
- Степан Щипачев – У моря
- Степан Щипачев – Тебе
- Степан Щипачев – Свет звезды
- Степан Щипачев – Соловей
- Степан Щипачев – Шар земной
- Степан Щипачев – Ровеснику
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

Abraham Cowley (1618 – 1667), the Royalist Poet.Poet and essayist Abraham Cowley was born in London, England, in 1618. He displayed early talent as a poet, publishing his first collection of poetry, Poetical Blossoms (1633), at the age of 15. Cowley studied at Cambridge University but was stripped of his Cambridge fellowship during the English Civil War and expelled for refusing to sign the Solemn League and Covenant of 1644. In turn, he accompanied Queen Henrietta Maria to France, where he spent 12 years in exile, serving as her secretary. During this time, Cowley completed The Mistress (1647). Arguably his most famous work, the collection exemplifies Cowley’s metaphysical style of love poetry. After the Restoration, Cowley returned to England, where he was reinstated as a Cambridge fellow and earned his MD before finally retiring to the English countryside. He is buried at Westminster Abbey alongside Geoffrey Chaucer and Edmund Spenser. Cowley is a wonderful poet and an outstanding representative of the English baroque.