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 First Wife
- Exodus Of The Heart by Wilmer Escovar
- Robert Burns Country: Ronalds Of The Bennals, The:
- Владимир Высоцкий – Парня спасём, парня в детдом
- Ash Wednesday by T. S. Eliot
- Presentiment poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- 1914 III: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нынче он закончил вехи
- Polly Be-en Upzides Wi’ Tom by William Barnes
- Вера Павлова – Толстые икры правителей
- Николай Карамзин – Послание к Александру Алексеевичу Плещееву
- The Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay
- Robert Burns: Epistle To Hugh Parker:
- Ralph to Mary poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Олег Бундур – Умный кот
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
- Юлия Друнина – Дочери
- Юлия Друнина – Девчонка – что надо!
- Юлия Друнина – Да, сердце часто ошибалось
- Юлия Друнина – Чтоб человек от стужи не застыл
- Юлия Друнина – Целовались
- Юлия Друнина – Царевна
- Юлия Друнина – Большой ребёнок ты
- Юлия Друнина – Бинты
- Юлия Друнина – Бежала от морозов, вот беда
- Юлия Друнина – Бережем тех, кого любим
- Юлия Друнина – Баллада о десанте
- Юлия Друнина – Альпинисту
- Юлия Друнина – А всё равно
- Юлия Друнина – Зной
- Юлия Друнина – Зима, зима нагрянет скоро
- Юлия Друнина – Жизнь моя не катилась
- Юлия Друнина – Здесь продают билеты на Парнас
- Юлия Друнина – Запас прочности
- Юлия Друнина – Забытая тетрадь, Истертые листы
- Юлия Друнина – Ялта Чехова
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