Aunt Dorothys Lecture

Come, go and practise-get your work-

Do something, Nelly, pray.

I hate to see you moon about

In this uncertain way!

Why do you look so vacant, child?

I fear you must be ill.

Surely you are not thinking of

That Captain Cameron still?

Ah, yes-I fear’d so! You may blush;

I blush for you, my dear;

And it is scarce a week ago

Since Gerald brought him here-

The day he fell in the hunting-field,

And his pretty horse was lamed.

O child-and with your bringing up!

You ought to be ashamed.

Last night I saw you watching him,

And you danced with him thrice;

You turn’d quite red when he spoke to you-

Such manners are not nice.

You, Nelly Gray, should not be seen

(I don’t wish to be harsh)

Running wild, like the servant-girls,

For a red coat and moustache.

Not that he isn’t a gentleman

From spur to shako-brim-

I know good blood when I see it-yes,

I will say that for him.

He does not swagger, nor lisp, nor flirt-

Has none of those vulgar ways;

And he does not talk like a stable-boy,

As the fashion is nowadays.

In fact, I admire him very much-

My dear, you need not fret-

I do; he’s very different from

The rest of Gerald’s set.

He’s very handsome, certainly-

I don’t mind saying so.

He reminds me a bit of your uncle, when

I met him long ago.

He had a silky, long moustache

Of just that golden shade;

And broad Greek brows, with a tint of bronze,

That Indian suns had made.

He was a soldier, too, you know-

As big and strong and tall:

He’d just come home when I saw him first

At Lady Talbot’s ball.

I remember when we were introduced;

By stealth I look’d him o’er-

Such haughty, indolent, gentle eyes,

I never saw before!

I felt so strange when he look’d at me;

I cannot tell you why-

But I seem’d to feel he was mine, to keep

And love, till I should die.

‘Twas very odd-in a moment, too,

Before I knew his name!

But, Nelly-O how the world was changed

And brighten’d, when he came!

I was so restless all that night;-

I did not want to see,

I felt where he moved about the room

While he was away from me.

I was jealous-I could not help it,

Although I struggled hard-

Of the other girls, whose favour’d names

Were written on his card;

They were so rich, and I was poor;

They were so grandly dress’d,

And I so dowdy; and yet, and yet,

I thought he liked me best.

The last long hour he danced with them,

And oh I miss’d him so!

And then I heard our carriage call’d,

And I knew that I must go.

A big lump rose up in my throat

That I could hardly bear;

But, passing through the vestibule,

I saw him standing there.

I knew not where he came from,

But I felt no surprise

When he look’d down from his stately height

With his grave and quiet eyes,

And held his hand for a mute good-night

That said all words could say;-

Ah, love! he made me happy then

For ever and for aye.

Well, well,-but this is nonsense;

How I am running on!-

His golden hair grew thin and grey,

And now he’s dead and gone.

There, go and dress for dinner, child;

It’s getting late, you see;

And-perhaps I’ll ask young Cameron

If he’ll come in to tea.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Зинаида Александрова – В гости к бабушке by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Утки, беленькие грудки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – У моря by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Топотушки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Таня и волчок by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Смешные человечки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Шарик by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Сама by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Ромашки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Раз – два – три – четыре – пять by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Прятки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Подснежник by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Песня моряков by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Одуванчик by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Новый снег by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Новые ясли by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Невидимка by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Мы оделись раньше всех by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Молодой месяц by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Мне рукою машет маленький сынок by Зинаида Александрова

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works