Nay, ask me not. I would not dare pretend
To constant passion and a life-long trust.
They will desert thee, if indeed they must.
How can we guess what Destiny will send-
Smiles of fair fortune, or black storms to rend
What even now is shaken by a gust?
The fire will burn, or it will die in dust.
We cannot tell until the final end.
And never vow was forged that could confine
Aught but the body of the thing whereon
Its pledge was stamped. The inner soul divine,
That thinks of going, is already gone.
When faith and love need bolts upon the door,
Faith is not faith, and love abides no more.

A few random poems:
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка для шахтера-друга про шахтерки, чуни и каменный уголь
- The Farmer’s Woldest D’ter by William Barnes
- Владимир Набоков – О, любовь, ты светла и крылата
- Ballad on the American War by Robert Burns
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “Irish Melodies”. 58. Farewell! – But Whenever You Welcome the Hour. Томас Мур.
- Faces. by Walt Whitman
- Вера Звягинцева – Качаешься в гробу стеклянном
- Canto XLIX poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Woman In The Rye by Thomas Hardy
- que-sera-sera.html
- Open sky by Shailendra Chauhan
- Near But Far Away by William Morris
- The Old Cumberland Beggar by William Wordsworth
- The Light o’ the Moon by Vachel Lindsay
- Николай Языков – Вторая присяга
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
- Николай Языков – Е. А. Тимашевой (Молодая ученица)
- Николай Языков – Е. А. Свербеевой (Мысль неразгульного поэта)
- Николай Языков – Две картины
- Николай Языков – Дума (Одну минуту, много две)
- Николай Языков – Дом сумасшедших в Дерпте
- Николай Языков – Девятое мая
- Николай Языков – Дева ночи
- Николай Языков – Давным-давно люблю я страстно
- Николай Языков – Д. Н. Свербееву (Во имя Руси, милый брат)
- Николай Языков – Чувствительное путешествие в Ревель
- Николай Языков – Благодарю вас за цветы
- Николай Языков – Баян к русскому воину
- Николай Языков – Ау
- Николай Языков – Альпийская песня
- Николай Языков – Аделаиде (Я твой, я твой, Аделаида)
- Николай Языков – А. В. Тихвинскому (Как знать, куда моя дорога)
- Николай Языков – А. В. Киреевой (Тогда как сердцем мы лелеем)
- Николай Языков – А. С. Дириной
- Николай Языков – А. Н. Вульфу (Теперь я в Камби, милый мой)
- Николай Языков – А. Н. Вульфу (Нe называй меня поэтом)
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
Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.