The Usurpation

Thou ‘adst to my soul no title or pretence;

I was mine own, and free,

Till I had given myself to thee;

But thou hast kept me slave and prisoner since.

Well, since so insolent thou ‘rt grown,

Fond tyrant! I’ll depose thee from thy throne;

Such outrages must not admitted be

In an elective monarchy.

Part of my heart by gift did to thee fall;

My country, kindred, and my best

Acquaintance, were to share the rest;

But thou, their covetous neighbour, drav’st out all:

Nay more; thou mak’st me worship thee,

And wouldst the rule of my religion be:

Did ever tyrant claim such power as you,

To be both emperor and pope too?

The public miseries, and my private fate,

Deserve some tears; but greedy thou

(Insatiate maid!) wilt not allow

That I one drop from thee should alienate:

Nor wilt thou grant my sins a part,

Though the sole cause of most of them thou art;

Counting my tears thy tribute and thy due,

Since first mine eyes I gave to you.

Thou all my joys and all my hopes dost claim;

Thou ragest like a fire in me,

Converting all things into thee;

Nought can resist, or not encrease the flame:

Nay, every grief and every fear

Thou dost devour, unless thy stamp it bear:

Thy presence, like the crowned basilisk’s breath,

All other serpents puts to death.

As men in hell are from diseases free,

So from all other ills am I;

Free from their known formality:

But all pains eminently lie in thee!

Alas, alas! I hope in vain

My conquer’d soul from out thine hands to gain;

Since all the natives there thou ‘ast overthrown,

And planted garrisons of thine own.

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 

• The Licorice Fields at Pontefract poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Last Laugh poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Irish Unionist’s farewell to Greta Hellastrom in 1922 poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Hon. Sec. poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Cottage Hospital poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Sun and Fun poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• South London Sketch poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Slough poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Senex poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Seaside Golf poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• On a Portrait of a Deaf Man poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Mortality poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Middlesex poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Meditation on the A30 poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Loneliness poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Ireland With Emily poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Inexpensive Progress poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• In Westminster Abbey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• How To Get On In Society poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman

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.

 

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