A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963)
I had remarked–how sharply one observes
When life is disappearing round the curves
Of yet another corner, out of sight!–
I had remarked when it was “good luck” and “good night”
And “a good journey to you,” on her face
Certain enigmas penned in the hieroglyphs
Of that half frown and queer fixed smile and trace
Of clouded thought in those brown eyes,
Always so happily clear of hows and ifs–
My poor bleared mind!–and haunting whys.
There I stood, holding her farewell hand,
(Pressing my life and soul and all
The world to one good-bye, till, small
And smaller pressed, why there I’d stand
Dead when they vanished with the sight of her).
And I saw that she had grown aware,
Queer puzzled face! of other things
Beyond the present and her own young speed,
Of yesterday and what new days might breed
Monstrously when the future brings
A charger with your late-lamented head:
Aware of other people’s lives and will,
Aware, perhaps, aware even of me …
The joyous hope of it! But still
I pitied her; for it was sad to see
A goddess shorn of her divinity.
In the midst of her speed she had made pause,
And doubts with all their threat of claws,
Outstripped till now by her unconsciousness,
Had seized on her; she was proved mortal now.
“Live, only live! For you were meant
Never to know a thought’s distress,
But a long glad astonishment
At the world’s beauty and your own.
The pity of you, goddess, grown
Perplexed and mortal.”
Yet … yet … can it be
That she is aware, perhaps, even of me?
And life recedes, recedes; the curve is bare,
My handkerchief flutters blankly in the air;
And the question rumbles in the void:
Was she aware, was she after all aware?
A few random poems:
- Sonnet CI by William Shakespeare
- The French And the Spanish Guerillas by William Wordsworth
- 致老鼠的铅笔
- A Twilight Song poem – Alfred Austin
- The Lotus by Rabindranath Tagore
- Grass by Russell Edson
- Strong Mercy by Rabindranath Tagore
- Юнна Мориц – Это да, это нет
- Sound and Spirit by Oladele Hussein
- Elegy on the Death of Robert Ruisseaux by Robert Burns
- Ballade Of The Southern Cross poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Two Hundred Years After by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Beäten Path by William Barnes
- Вера Павлова – Перед дальней дорогой
- “Yes! Thou Art Fair, Yet Be Not Moved” by William Wordsworth
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
- Владимир Маяковский – Вам
- Владимир Маяковский – В Советской России не может быть никакого царя… (Главполитпросвет №361)
- Владимир Маяковский – В шикарном вагоне, в вагоне-салоне… (Главполитпросвет №315)
- Владимир Маяковский – В РСФСР 130 миллионов населения (Агитплакаты)
- Владимир Маяковский – В России голод… (Главполитпросвет № 236)
- Владимир Маяковский – В Париже совещание “живых сил” (РОСТА №851)
- Владимир Маяковский – В начале настоящего года у нас было 3833 здоровых паровоза… (РОСТА №776)
- Владимир Маяковский – В мире два класса… (РОСТА №501)
- Владимир Маяковский – В Европе кризис (РОСТА №869)
- Владимир Маяковский – В авто
- Владимир Маяковский – В 12 часов по ночам
- Владимир Маяковский – Уже из-за снежных заносов прекратилось… (РОСТА №774)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ужасающая фамильярность
- Владимир Маяковский – Увеличивается ли питание Москвы… (Главполитпросвет №234)
- Владимир Маяковский – Успокоилась Франция, злобой не пышет… (РОСТА №625)
- Владимир Маяковский – Универсальный ответ
- Владимир Маяковский – Уймется Антанта… (РОСТА №571)
- Владимир Маяковский – Учитесь! (РОСТА №937)
- Владимир Маяковский – У шахтера нет чая, нет табаку, нет сахару… (РОСТА №604)
- Владимир Маяковский – У буржуев на весь мир пир… (РОСТА №315)
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
Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 – 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly fifty books—both novels and non-fiction works—as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.