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:
- Kodja Mustafa Pasha poem – Yahya Kemal Beyatli poems | Poetry Monster
- Apology to Mr. Syme for not dining with him by Robert Burns
- Dedication by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Юрий Галансков – Вступление к поэме “Апельсиновая шкура”
- Elegy to the Old Man Hokuju by Yosa Buson
- Unanswered
- Thatchen O’ The Rick by William Barnes
- Алишер Навои – Сверкнула в темноте ночной краса
- A Grey Day by William Vaughn Moody
- Crawling At Sea by Vaishnavi Prakash
- A Precise Woman by Yehuda Amichai
- Sonnet 74: But be contented when that fell arrest by William Shakespeare
- Robert Burns: Epigram To Miss Ainslie In Church: Who was looking up the text during sermon.
- Яков Полонский – А. Н. Майкову (ответ на стихи его: Полонский! Суждено опять судьбою злою)
- The Mysterious Cat by Vachel Lindsay
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
- Юрий Галансков – Мне больно
- Юрий Галансков – Человеческий манифест
- Юрий Галансков стихи: читать все стихотворения, поэмы поэта Юрий Галансков – Поэзия на Poetry Monster
- Юрий Энтин – Слово про слово
- Юрий Левитанский – Не брести мне сушею
- Юрий Левитанский – Мое поколение
- Юрий Левитанский – Кто-то так уже писал
- Юрий Левитанский – Кинематограф
- Юрий Левитанский – Как зарок от суесловья, как залог
- Юрий Левитанский – Иронический человек
- Юрий Левитанский – Грач над березовой чащей
- Юрий Левитанский – Диалог у новогодней елки
- Юрий Левитанский – Что я знаю про стороны света
- Юрий Левитанский – Человек, строящий воздушные замки
- Юрий Левитанский – Белый снег
- Юрий Верховский – Зачем, паук, уходишь торопливо
- Юрий Верховский – Вариации на тему Пушкина
- Юрий Верховский – В майское утро
- Юрий Верховский – Судьба с судьбой
- Юрий Верховский – Рождественскою ночью
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