Despair

Beneath this gloomy shade,

By Nature only for my sorrows made,

I’ll spend this voyce in crys,

In tears I’ll waste these eyes

By Love so vainly fed;

So Lust of old the Deluge punished.

Ah wretched youth! said I,

“Ah, wretched youth!” twice did I sadly cry:

“Ah, wretched youth!” the fields and floods reply.

When thoughts of Love I entertain,

I meet no words but “Never,” and “In vain.”

“Never” alas that dreadful name

Which fuels the infernal flame:

“Never,” My time to come must waste;

“In vain,” torments the present and the past.

“In vain, in vain!” said I;

“In vain, in vain!” twice did I sadly cry;

“In vain, in vain!” the fields and floods reply.

No more shall fields or floods do so;

For I to shades more dark and silent go:

All this world’s noise appears to me

A dull ill-acted comedy:

No comfort to my wounded sight,

In the suns busy and imperti’nent Light.

Then down I laid my head;

Down on cold earth; and for a while was dead,

And my freed soul to a strange somewhere fled.

“Ah, sottish Soul” said I,

When back to its cage again I saw it fly;

“Fool to resume her broken chain!

And row her galley here again!”

“Fool, to that body to return

Where it condemn’d and destin’d is to burn!

Once dead, how can it be,

Death should a thing so pleasant seem to thee,

That thou should’st come to live it o’re again in me?”

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Яков Полонский – Цветок by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Чтобы песня моя разлилась как поток by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Чайка by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Братья by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Блажен озлобленный поэт by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Белая ночь by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – А. Н. Майкову (ответ на стихи его: Полонский! Суждено опять судьбою злою) by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Последний вздох by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – После праздника by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Полонский здесь не без привета by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Поэт и гражданин, он призван был учить by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Подойди ко мне, старушка by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Поцелуй by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – По горам две хмурых тучи by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Письмо by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Песня циганки by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Памяти В. М. Гаршина by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Памяти С. Я. Надсона by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Откуда by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Орел и голубка by Яков Полонский

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works