A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Semichorus.
Oh Tyrant Love! hast thou possest
The prudent, learn’d, and virtuous breast?
Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,
And Arts but soften us to feel thy flame.
Love, soft intruder, enters here,
But ent’ring learns to be sincere.
Marcus with blushes owns he loves,
And Brutus tenderly reproves.
Why, Virtue, dost thou blame desire,
Which Nature has imprest?
Why, Nature, dost thou soonest fire
The mild and gen’rous breast?
Chorus.
Love’s purer flames the Gods approve;
The Gods and Brutus bent to love:
Brutus for absent Portia sighs,
And sterner Cassius melts at Junia’s eyes.
What is loose love? a transient gust,
Spent in a sudden storm of lust,
A vapour fed from wild desire,
A wand’ring, self-consuming fire,
But Hymen’s kinder flames unite;
And burn for ever one;
Chaste as cold Cynthia’s virgin light,
Productive as the Sun.
Semichorus.
Oh source of ev’ry social tie,
United wish, and mutual joy!
What various joys on one attend,
As son, as father, brother husband, friend?
Whether his hoary sire he spies,
While thousand grateful thoughts arise;
Or meets his spouse’s fonder eye;
Or views his smiling progeny;
What tender passions take their turns,
What home-felt raptures move?
His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns,
With rev’rence, hope, and love.
Chorus.
Hence guilty joys, distastes, surmises,
Hence false tears, deceits, disguises,
Dangers, doubts, delays, surprises;
Fires that scorch, yet dare not shine
Purest love’s unwasting treasure,
Constant faith, fair hope, long leisure,
Days of ease, and nights of pleasure;
Sacred Hymen! these are thine.
A few random poems:
- The Widow’s House by William Barnes
- Requests for Toy Piano by Tony Hoagland
- Men by Maya Angelou
- Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk by Robert Burns
- Robert Burns: Scroggam, My Dearie:
- Ah, woe is me, my Mother dear by Robert Burns
- I Just Wanna Be Your Number One by Miraj Patel
- Владимир Степанов – Гном (Буква Г)
- On A Mistake In His Translation Of Homer by William Cowper
- Владимир Высоцкий – Красное, зелёное, жёлтое, лиловое
- Sonnet CXXI by William Shakespeare
- Soliloquy In A Tub poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- Николай Гумилев – Канцона вторая
- To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady’s Brother and Sister by Phillis Wheatley
- Robert Burns: M’Pherson’s Farewell:
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
- To a Virtuous Young Lady poem – John Milton poems
- The Passion poem – John Milton poems
- The Hymn poem – John Milton poems
- The Fifth Ode Of Horace. Lib. I poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet to the Nightingale poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 23 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 22 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 21 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 20 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 19 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 18 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 17 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 16 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 15 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 14 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 13 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 12 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 11 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 10 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 09 poem – John Milton poems
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