“Friend,” quoth Lord Nevil, “thou art young
To face the world, and thou art blind
To subtle ways of womankind;
The meshes thou wilt fall among.
“Take an old married man’s advice;
Use the experience I have earned;
Watch well where women are concerned,-
They’re not all birds of paradise!
“Be circumspect, or thou mayst fall;
Abjure a blind faith-nay, trust none-
Till thou hast chosen, proven one;
Then trust her truly-trust in all.
“Keep a calm brain and quiet eye,
And watch. The doll of powder and paint,
The flirt, the artificial saint,
The loud man-woman pass them by.
“The innocent one, who craves thy cares
To shield her from life’s fret and fray;
Lad, watch her-maybe she’ll betray
Some doubtful knowledge, unawares.
“The pensive one, who droops and sighs-
Wait till her dreaming comes to test;
Be gentle, yet be wary, lest
‘Tis but a graceful grey disguise.
“The world-wise husband-hunter-she
Who knows no love but love of gold,
And lands and titles-empty, cold,-
Pity her, lad, and let her be.
“And the rich heiress-let her pass.
Belike she’s stupid, drugged with wealth,
And just enjoys her life and health
As some fat cow in clover grass.
“Or insolent with prosperity,
Unsharpened, shallow, unrefined;-
And thou art poor, and thou wilt mind
That proud blood cometh down to thee.
“The gushing gossip-she who rains
Incessant chatter in thine ears;-
She may be worth thy keenest fears,
She may be simply lacking brains,
“And lacking grace and modesty.
She will make mischief, at the best;
She may be wily, like the rest;
Keep thy tongue still when she is by.
“They that would master thee, if they could,
In brain and muscle-flaring lights-
The clamorous for false woman’s rights;-
Snub them, my friend-it does them good-
“And do not think of them for wives.
Fit mates for such seem somewhat rare;
But when two odd ones make a pair,
They spoil at least four precious lives.
“But shouldst thou chance to meet a girl
With brave, bright eyes, that front thee straight,
A kindly tongue that does not prate,
And quiet lips that cannot curl;
“With fine sense, quick to understand,
With dignity that is not cold,
Sweet, sunny mirth that is not bold,
A ready ear, a willing hand;
“One skilled in household arts, and skilled
In little courteous, graceful ways,
That make no show and win no praise-
Wherewith discordant jars are stilled:
“One who will never touch a sore;
One who sheds sunshine round about,
And draws life’s hidden comfort out;
One whom the boys and babes adore:
“One with an intellect to reach
The highest range that thou canst rise;
Who will aye help thee, woman-wise,
And yet not set herself to teach:
“One of whom women love to speak,
In honest kindness, and whose name
Men let alone; whose chiefest fame
Lies hidden where men may not seek;-
“Friend, woo her, as a good knight can,
And win her. Lay thou at her feet
Faith, love, and honour, true and sweet;
And count thyself a happy man.”
A few random poems:
- Fragment of a Greek Tragedy poem – A. E. Housman
- Hare-hunting by William Somervile
- The Seafarer poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Алексей Ржевский – Сонет, три разные системы заключающий
- Chorus of Youths and Virgins poem – Alexander Pope
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабочий корреспондент
- A Crazed Girl by William Butler Yeats
- Cino poem – Ezra Pound poems
- A Song Of The Future. by Sidney Lanier
- A Question Answered poem – Alfred Austin
- Sonnet 92: But do thy worst to steal thy self away by William Shakespeare
- Heart of God by Vachel Lindsay
- Sir Gawaine And The Green Knight by Yvor Winters
- Old Susan by Walter de la Mare
- Others, I Am Not the First poem – A. E. Housman
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
- Spenserian Stanzas On Charles Armitage Brown poem – John Keats poems
- Spenserian Stanza. Written At The Close Of Canto II, Book V, Of “The Faerie Queene” poem – John Keats poems
- Specimen Of An Induction To A Poem poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet XVII. Happy Is England poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet XVI. To Kosciusko poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet XV. On The Grasshopper And Cricket poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet XIV. Addressed To The Same (Haydon) poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet X. To One Who Has Been Long In City Pent poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet XIII. Addressed To Haydon poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet XII. On Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet XI. On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. Written Upon The Top Of Ben Nevis poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. Written On A Blank Space At The End Of Chaucer’s Tale Of ‘The Floure And The Lefe’ poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. Written On A Blank Page In Shakespeare’s Poems, Facing ‘A Lover’s Complaint’ poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. Written In Disgust Of Vulgar Superstition poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. Written In Answer To A Sonnet By J. H. Reynolds poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. Written Before Re-Read King Lear poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. Why Did I Laugh Tonight? poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet: When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet VIII. To My Brothers poem – John Keats poems
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
Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.