Middle Age

The sins of Youth are hardly sins,

So frank they are and free.

‘T is but when Middle-age begins

We need morality.

Ah, pause and weigh this bitter truth:

That Middle-age, grown cold,

No comprehension has of Youth,

No pity for the Old.

Youth, with his half-divine mistakes,

She never can forgive,

So much she hates his charm which makes

Worth while the life we live.

She scorns Old Age, whose tolerance

And calm, well-balanced mind

(Knowing how crime is born of chance)

Can pardon all mankind.

Yet she, alas! has all the power

Of strength and place and gold,

Man’s every act, through every hour,

Is by her laws controlled.

All things she grasps with sordid hands

And weighs in tarnished scales.

She neither feels, nor understands,

And yet her will prevails!

Cold-blooded vice and careful sin,

Gold-lust, blind selfishness,–

The shortest, cheapest way to win

Some, worse than cheap, success.

Such are her attributes and aims,

Yet meekly we obey,

While she to guide and order claims

All issues of the day.

You seek for honour, friendship, truth?

Let Middle-age be banned!

Go, for warm-hearted acts, to Youth;

To Age,–to understand!

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 

• Harrow-on-the-Hill poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Guilt poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Felixstowe, or The Last of Her Order poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Executive poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Dilton Marsh Halt poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Diary of a Church Mouse poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Devonshire Street W.1 poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Death In Leamington poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Dawlish poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Cornish Cliffs poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Christmas poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Business Girls poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Back From Australia poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill, Sheffield poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• A Subaltern’s Love Song poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• A Shropshire Lad poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• A Bay In Anglesey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Free the Holy Land — a poem about Palestine by Fledermaus
• Sepukku by Ураний
• Did Shakespeare write his own plays and poems? by Fledermaus

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

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