A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963)
In the middle of countries, far from hills and sea,
Are the little places one passes by in trains
And never stops at; where the skies extend
Uninterrupted, and the level plains
Stretch green and yellow and green without an end.
And behind the glass of their Grand Express
Folk yawn away a province through,
With nothing to think of, nothing to do,
Nothing even to look at–never a “view”
In this damned wilderness.
But I look out of the window and find
Much to satisfy the mind.
Mark how the furrows, formed and wheeled
In a motion orderly and staid,
Sweep, as we pass, across the field
Like a drilled army on parade.
And here’s a market-garden, barred
With stripe on stripe of varied greens …
Bright potatoes, flower starred,
And the opacous colour of beans.
Each line deliberately swings
Towards me, till I see a straight
Green avenue to the heart of things,
The glimpse of a sudden opened gate
Piercing the adverse walls of fate …
A moment only, and then, fast, fast,
The gate swings to, the avenue closes;
Fate laughs, and once more interposes
Its barriers.
The train has passed.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Британишский – Автопортрет Давида
- Playing With Big Numbers
- THE WAX PALACE by Satish Verma
- How Do You Know when Someone is in Love with You?
- Владимир Высоцкий – Водой наполненные горсти
- Conversation 23: On Cause by Rosmarie Waldrop
- Sonnet 74: But be contented when that fell arrest by William Shakespeare
- Юрий Левитанский – Белый снег
- Ок Мельникова – Сохрани
- A Girl by Ezra Pound
- The Fallen House
- The City That Will Not Repent by Vachel Lindsay
- Joy and Pleasure by William Henry Davies
- Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись на иллюминацию, представленную ее императорскому Величеству от их императорских высочеств в Ораниенбауме 1750 года июля 31 дня
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Лягушонка
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
- Жан де Лафонтен – Голубь и Муравей
- Жан де Лафонтен – Фортуна и Дитя
- Жан де Лафонтен – Эзопово объяснение одного завещания
- Жан де Лафонтен – Две Козы
- Жан де Лафонтен – Два Мула
- Жан де Лафонтен – Дровосек и Меркурий
- Жан де Лафонтен – Дафнис и Алцимадура
- Жан де Лафонтен – Человек и его Изображение
- Жан де Лафонтен – Безумец и Мудрец
- Жан де Лафонтен – Астролог, упавший в колодец
- Жан де Лафонтен – Амур и Безумие
- Жан Расин – Решенье принято, час перемены пробил
- Жан Расин – Когда мы вышли из Трезенских врат
- Жан Расин – Гофолия
- Жан Расин – Британик
- Жан Расин – Андромаха
- Зинаида Александрова – Зимняя песенка
- Зинаида Александрова – Волчонок
- Зинаида Александрова – Ветер на речке
- Зинаида Александрова – Венок
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

Alcaeus of Mytilene ( c. 625/620 – c. 580 Before Christ) ] was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria.