A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
Over the radiant ridges borne out on the offshore wind,
I have sailed as a butterfly sails whose priming wings unfurled
Leave the familiar gardens and visited fields behind
To follow a cloud in the east rose-flushed on the rim of the world.
I have strayed from the trodden highway for walking with upturned eyes
On the way of the wind in the treetops, and the drift of the tinted rack.
For the will to be losing no wonder of sunny or starlit skies
I have chosen the sod for my pillow and a threadbare coat for my back.
Evening of ample horizons, opaline, delicate, pure,
Shadow of clouds on green valleys, trailed over meadows and trees,
Cities of ardent adventure where the harvests of Joy mature,
Forests whose murmuring voices are amorous prophecies,
World of romance and profusion, still round my journey spread
The glamours, the glints, the enthralments, the nurture of one whose feet
From hours unblessed by beauty nor lighted by love have fled
As the shade of the tomb on his pathway and the scent of the winding-sheet.
I never could rest from roving nor put from my heart this need
To be seeing how lovably Nature in flower and face hath wrought, —
In flower and meadow and mountain and heaven where the white clouds breed
And the cunning of silken meshes where the heart’s desire lies caught.
Over the azure expanses, on the offshore breezes borne,
I have sailed as a butterfly sails, nor recked where the impulse led,
Sufficed with the sunshine and freedom, the warmth and the summer morn,
The infinite glory surrounding, the infinite blue ahead
A few random poems:
- One Hour to Madness and Joy. by Walt Whitman
- Soup Song by Russell Edson
- The Merman poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Jungle Husband by Stevie Smith
- Heel & Toe To The End by William Carlos Williams
- Михаил Лермонтов – Желанье
- Election Ballad at close of Contest for representing the Dumfries Burghs, 1790 by Robert Burns
- To Imagination by Nithin Purple
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Чесменские трофеи
- Алексей Толстой – Стасюлевич и Маркевич
- The Captive Trumpeter by William Somervile
- “By Moscow Self-Devoted To A Blaze” by William Wordsworth
- Николай Заболоцкий – Свадьба
- The Change by Tony Hoagland
- Robert Burns: O Wat Ye Wha’s In Yon Town:
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
- A Hedge Of Rubber Trees poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- On The Disadvantages Of Central Heating poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Catalpa Tree On West Twelfth Street poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nothing Stays Put poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Fog poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Exmoor poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Easter Morning poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Beach Glass poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Silence poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Hermit Thrush poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Hedge Of Rubber Trees poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Catalpa Tree On West Twelfth Street poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Joe Biden, a Ghazal
- The sky has never seen such a moon
- Ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali
- Joe Biden’s Torment
- Insolent couplets
- An Insolent Jew
- Soliloquy In A Tub poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- Reviving My Feminity poem – Amy Cavanaugh 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
Alan Seeger (1888-1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk musician, Pete Seeger.