Not Fair

‘T IS very true, I thought you once as fair

As women in th’ idea are;*

Whatever here seems beauteous, seem’d to be

But a faint metaphor of thee:

But then, methoughts, there something shin’d within,

Which casts this lustre o’er thy skin;

Nor could I choose but count it the sun’s light,

Which made this cloud appear so bright.

But, since I knew thy falsehood and thy pride,

And all thy thousand faults beside,

A very Moor, methinks, plac’d near to thee,

White as his teeth would seem to be.

So men (they say) by hell’s delusions led,

Have ta’en a succubus to their bed;

Believe it fair, and themselves happy call,

Till the cleft foot discovers all:

Then they start from ‘t, half ghosts themselves with fear;

And devil, as ‘t is, doth appear.

So, since against my will I found thee foul,

Deform’d and crooked in thy soul,

My reason straight did to my senses shew,

That they might be mistaken too:

Nay, when the world but knows how false you are,

There’s not a man will think you fair;

Thy shape will monstrous in their fancies be,

They’ll call their eyes as false as thee.

Be what thou wilt, hate will present thee so,

As Puritans do the Pope, and Papists Luther do.

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 

• Владимир Степанов – Хлопотунья by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Воробей by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Волнушки by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Весёлый транспорт by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – В лесу осиновом by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Утёнок (Буква У) by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Угадай-ка, это кто? by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Тула-город мастеров by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Телефон (Буква Т) by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Суворовец by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Следом за летом осень by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Синичка в электричке by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Шарик (Буква Ш) by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Рукавицы для лисицы by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Робот (Буква Р) by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Рассказ оружейника by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Про меня и муравья by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Праздник сентября by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Потемнели ветви by Владимр Степанов
• Владимир Степанов – Подберёзовик и подосиновик by Владимр Степанов

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