Oh, Masters, you who rule the world,
Will you not wait with me awhile,
When swords are sheathed and sails are furled,
And all the fields with harvest smile?
I would not waste your time for long,
I ask you but, when you are tired,
To read how by the weak, the strong
Are weighed and worshipped and desired.
When weary of the Mart, the Loom,
The Withering-house, the Riffle-blocks,
The Barrack-square, the Engine-room,
The pick-axe, ringing on the rocks,–
When tents are pitched and work is done,
While restful twilight broods above,
By fresh-lit lamp, or dying sun,
See in my songs how women love.
We shared your lonely watch by night,
We knew you faithful at the helm,
Our thoughts went with you through the fight,
That saved a soul,–or wrecked a realm
Ah, how our hearts leapt forth to you,
In pride and joy, when you prevailed,
And when you died, serene and true:
–We wept in silence when you failed!
Oh, brain that did not gain the gold!
Oh, arm, that could not wield the sword,
Here is the love, that is not sold,
Here are the hearts to hail you Lord!
You played and lost the game? What then?
The rules are harsh and hard we know,
You, still, Oh, brothers, are the men
Whom we in secret reverence so.
Your work was waste? Maybe your share
Lay in the hour you laughed and kissed;
Who knows but what your son shall wear
The laurels that his father missed?
Ay, you who win, and you who lose,
Whether you triumph,–or despair,–
When your returning footsteps choose
The homeward track, our love is there.
For, since the world is ordered thus,
To you the fame, the stress, the sword,
We can but wait, until to us
You give yourselves, for our reward.
To Whaler’s deck and Coral beach,
To lonely Ranch and Frontier-Fort,
Beyond the narrow bounds of speech
I lay the cable of my thought.
I fain would send my thanks to you,
(Though who am I, to give you praise?)
Since what you are, and work you do,
Are lessons for our easier ways.
‘Neath alien stars your camp-fires glow,
I know you not,–your tents are far.
My hope is but in song to show,
How honoured and dear you are.
A few random poems:
- Blow of an ax by Yosa Buson
- The Hymn poem – John Milton poems
- The Vaïces That Be Gone by William Barnes
- Владимир Маяковский – Враги хлеба
- Pan to Artemis poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Lichtenberg by Rudyard Kipling
- Oonts by Rudyard Kipling
- The Beggars by Sylvia Plath
- The Homeless Man by Mary TallMountain
- My Father was a Farmer: A Ballad by Robert Burns
- Владимир Высоцкий – Одесские куплеты
- Николай Рубцов – Воробей
- Ольга Ермолаева – В кирзовых сапогах скользить по горной глине
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Нарядно выстлав дол, взбегая на холмы
- “`Father, farewell! Be not distressed” poem – Alfred Austin
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 – Песня-молния
- Владимир Маяковский – Первый вывоз
- Владимир Маяковский – Первый из пяти
- Владимир Маяковский – Первомайское поздравление
- Владимир Маяковский – Переворот в Германии (Роста №42)
- Владимир Маяковский – Перекопский энтузиазм
- Владимир Маяковский – Пахали сохой — запашем трактором (Главполитпросвет №42)
- Владимир Маяковский – Октябрьский марш
- Владимир Маяковский – Октябрьские частушки
- Владимир Маяковский – Октябрь 1917–1926
- Владимир Маяковский – Офицер! Смотри на эту саблю (РОСТА)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ода революции
- Владимир Маяковский – Общее руководство для начинающих подхалим
- Владимир Маяковский – Обряды кому и на кой ляд целовальный обряд
- Облако в штанах – Владимир Маяковский: читать поэму онлайн, текст стихотворения полностью – Стихи Poetry Monster
- Владимир Маяковский – О том, как у Керзона с обедом разрасталась аппетитов зона
- Владимир Маяковский – О том, как некие сектантцы зовут рабочего на танцы
- Владимир Маяковский – О патриархе Тихоне
- Владимир Маяковский – О дряни
- Владимир Маяковский – О чем в наступающем думаем году мы
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
Violet Nicolson ( 1865 – 1904); otherwise known as Adela Florence Nicolson (née Cory), was an English poetess who wrote under the pseudonym of Laurence Hope, however she became known as Violet Nicolson. In the early 1900s, she became a best-selling author. She committed suicide and is buried in Madras, now Chennai, India.