A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
Oft when sweet music undulated round,
Like the full moon out of a perfumed sea
Thine image from the waves of blissful sound
Rose and thy sudden light illumined me.
And in the country, leaf and flower and air
Would alter and the eternal shape emerge;
Because they spoke of thee the fields seemed fair,
And Joy to wait at the horizon’s verge.
The little cloud-gaps in the east that filled
Gray afternoons with bits of tenderest blue
Were windows in a palace pearly-silled
That thy voluptuous traits came glimmering through.
And in the city, dominant desire
For which men toil within its prison-bars,
I watched thy white feet moving in the mire
And thy white forehead hid among the stars.
Mystical, feminine, provoking, nude,
Radiant there with rosy arms outspread,
Sum of fulfillment, sovereign attitude,
Sensual with laughing lips and thrown-back head,
Draped in the rainbow on the summer hills,
Hidden in sea-mist down the hot coast-line,
Couched on the clouds that fiery sunset fills,
Blessed, remote, impersonal, divine;
The gold all color and grace are folded o’er,
The warmth all beauty and tenderness embower, —
Thou quiverest at Nature’s perfumed core,
The pistil of a myriad-petalled flower.
Round thee revolves, illimitably wide,
The world’s desire, as stars around their pole.
Round thee all earthly loveliness beside
Is but the radiate, infinite aureole.
Thou art the poem on the cosmic page —
In rubric written on its golden ground —
That Nature paints her flowers and foliage
And rich-illumined commentary round.
Thou art the rose that the world’s smiles and tears
Hover about like butterflies and bees.
Thou art the theme the music of the spheres
Echoes in endless, variant harmonies.
Thou art the idol in the altar-niche
Faced by Love’s congregated worshippers,
Thou art the holy sacrament round which
The vast cathedral is the universe.
Thou art the secret in the crystal where,
For the last light upon the mystery Man,
In his lone tower and ultimate despair,
Searched the gray-bearded Zoroastrian.
And soft and warm as in the magic sphere,
Deep-orbed as in its erubescent fire,
So in my heart thine image would appear,
Curled round with the red flames of my desire.
A few random poems:
- For K. J., Leaving and Coming Back by Marilyn Hacker
- Владимир Британишский – Античник Альтман
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка о Пете, толстом ребенке, и о Симе, который тонкий
- Audience With A Poet Written December 13 1976 For Robert E Hayden Ph D
- October by William Cullen Bryant
- English Poetry. Katharine Tynan. A Woman Commends Her Little Son. Кэтрин Тайнен.
- que-sera-sera.html
- The Galley-Slave by Rudyard Kipling
- A Front Row Seat To Hear Ole Johnny Sing by Shel Silverstein
- Robert Burns: The Tear-Drop:
- Fortune-Hunter, The – Canto 1 by William Somervile
- Николай Карамзин – Граф Гваринос
- Robert Burns: Epigram To Miss Jean Scott:
- Николай Языков – А. М. Языкову (Теперь, когда пророчественный дар)
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нам вчера прислали из рук вон плохую весть
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
- Владимир Маяковский – Тёплое слово кое-каким порокам
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты знаешь это вот… (Главполитпросвет №267)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты хочешь освободиться от тяжести войны?.. (РОСТА №523)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты обут? Тебя обувает фабрика… (РОСТА №601)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты не пошел на фронт бить барона?.. (РОСТА №451)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты
- Владимир Маяковский – Тучкины штучки
- Владимир Маяковский – Трудовая взаимопомощь инвентарем (Агитплакаты)
- Владимир Маяковский – Тропики
- Владимир Маяковский – Тревога
- Владимир Маяковский – Третий вывоз
- Владимир Маяковский – Тресты
- Владимир Маяковский – Трагедия
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищу Нетте, пароходу и человеку
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищи, близятся ужасы зимы… (РОСТА №270)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарище, не забывайте о Врангеле-бароне! (РОСТА № 116)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ! Шахтер раздет… (РОСТА №603)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ Иванов
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ! Фронту помог ты… (РОСТА №444)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ Чичерин и тралеры отдает и прочее
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.