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:
- The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- Birds heavenly by Sunil Sharma
- “Beyond the pasture’s withered bents ” poem – Alfred Austin
- Шекспир – Пример тебе подобной красоты – Сонет 84
- The Toucan by Shel Silverstein
- Occasioned By Some Verses of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham poem – Alexander Pope
- Where We Live Now by Philip Levine
- Sonnet 81: Or I shall live your epitaph to make by William Shakespeare
- There Pass the Careless People poem – A. E. Housman
- On Hurricane Jackson
- Николай Заболоцкий – Урал
- The Mocking Fairy by Walter de la Mare
- Exiles by Marilyn Hacker
- Reconciliation by Siegfried Sassoon
- 1914 by Wilfred Owen
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
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Дафнис подслушивает сов
- Толстой Алексей Николаевич стихи: Читать стихотворения Алексея Толстого – Список произведений, стихов поэта на Poetry Monster
- The Hecatomb to his Mistress by John Cleveland
- To the State of Love. Or the Senses’ Festival. By John Cleveland
- I love you
- A Human Being Needs Strong Tea
- Dog racing
- Dissolve in kisses, I would like to dissolve in your kisses
- Tale of the Pope and of His Workman Balda
- Who of you ever
- Аnything can happen
- Outside the Window, Snow
- You must once
- February 23
- May 19th – the Young Pioneers Day
- Море волнуется, манит к себе
- Море огней украшает причалы, вокзалы
- Кипение
- Каждому сроку – свой путь
- Каждый день и каждый миг судьбу благодарю
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.