A poem by Alistar Crowley (1875-1947)
So it is eighteen years,
Helena, since we met!
A season so endears,
Nor you nor I forget
The fresh young faces that once clove
In that most fiery dawn of love.
We wandered to and fro,
Who knew not how to woo,
Those eighteen years ago,
Sweetheart, when I and you
Exchanged high vows in heaven’s sight
That scarce survived a summer’s night.
What scourge smote from the stars
What madness from the moon?
That night we broke the bars
Was quintessential June,
When you and I beneath the trees
Bartered our bold virginities.
Eighteen -years, months, or hours?
Time is a tyrant’s toy!
Eternal are the flowers!
We are but girl and boy
Yet -since love leapt as swift to-night
As it had never left the light!
For fiercer from the South
Still flames your cruel hair,
And Trojan Helen’s mouth
Still not so ripe and rare
As Helena’s -nor love nor youth
So leaps with lust or thrills with truth.
Helena, still we hold
Flesh firmer, still we mix
Black hair with hair as gold.
Life has but served to fix
Our hearts; love lingers on the tongue,
And who loves once is always young.
The stars are still the same;
The changeful moon endures;
Come without fear or shame,
And draw my mouth to yours!
Youth fails, however flesh be fain;
Manhood and womanhood attain.
Life is a string of pearls,
And you the first I strung.
You left -first flower of girls! –
Life lyric on my tongue,
An indefatigable dance,
An inexhaustible romance!
Blush of love’s dawn, bright bud
That bloomed for my delight,
First blossom of my blood,
Burn in that blood to-night!
Helena, Helena, fiercely fresh,
Your flesh flies fervent to my flesh.
What sage can dare impugn
Man’s immortality?
Our godhead swims, immune
From death and destiny.
Ignored the bubble in the flow
Of love eighteen short years ago!
Time -I embrace all time
As my arm rings your waist.
Space -you surpass, sublime,
As, taking me, we taste
Omnipotence, sense slaying sense,
Soul slaying soul, omniscience.
A few random poems:
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – Водовоз
- Английская поэзия. Редьярд Киплинг. «Расходы и поступления». (1919-1926). 9. Джейн выходит замуж. Rudyard Kipling. «Debits and Credits». (1919-1926). 9. Jane’s Marriage
- In The Village Of My Ancestors by Vasko Popa
- Наум Коржавин – Еще в мальчишеские годы
- A Child’s Prayer by Siegfried Sassoon
- Song IV: Draw Near and Behold Me by William Morris
- Василий Жуковский – Деревенский сторож в полночь
- The Puzzled Game-Birds by Thomas Hardy
- The Dance At Darmstadt poem – Alfred Austin
- Ольга Ермолаева – Напиши мне стишок
- To a Young Lady, with the Illiad of Homer Translated by William Somervile
- He Said To by Marvin Bell
- Little Clock by T. Wignesan
- A Christmas Carol by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Владимир Маяковский – Что такое II Интернационал?.. (РОСТА №133)
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 – Маленькой елочке холодно зимой
- Зинаида Александрова – Лошадка
- Зинаида Александрова – Кролики
- Зинаида Александрова – Котята
- Зинаида Александрова – Колокольчики
- Зинаида Александрова – Карманный фонарик
- Зинаида Александрова – Игрушки
- Зинаида Александрова – Гибель Чапаева
- Зинаида Александрова – Дозор
- Зинаида Александрова – Давайте, девочки, купаться
- Зинаида Александрова – Четыре старушки
- Зинаида Александрова – Чай в саду
- Зинаида Александрова – Большая ложка
- Зинаида Александрова – Белочка
- Зинаида Александрова – Баиньки
- Владимир Вишневский – Звучит воинственно: “носки”
- Владимир Вишневский – Заявка на романс
- Владимир Вишневский – Я желаю вам громких успехов
- Владимир Вишневский – Хотел я искупаться в знак протеста
- Владимир Вишневский – Вернувшись от дверей, присела
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
