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:
- Омар Хайям – Много зла и коварства таится кругом
- Владимир Гандельсман – Воскрешение матери
- The Rose by Sara Teasdale
- Алексей Жемчужников – Радостные куплеты
- Hide-And-Seek by Vasko Popa
- Look Now On That Adventurer Who Hath Paid by William Wordsworth
- Шекспир – Считать часы и спрашивать – Сонет 58
- Nocturno poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Эмиль Верхарн – Я радость бытия принес тебе в подарок
- Medallion by Sylvia Plath
- The Woodlands by William Barnes
- Counting Sheep by Russell Edson
- Sonnet 14: Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck by William Shakespeare
- Let The Weary World Go Round poem – Alfred Austin
- Britannia’s Pastorals by William Browne
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
- Youth and Love poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Twilight poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Translated from Geibel poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- To Vernon Lee poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- To E. poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- To Death poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- To Clementina Black poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Village Garden poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Two Terrors poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Sick Man and the Nightingale poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Sequel to a Reminiscence poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Promise of Sleep poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Piano-Organ poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Old Poet poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Old House poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Lost Friend poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Last Judgment poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The First Extra poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The End of the Day poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Dream poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
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