A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
There was a boy — not above childish fears —
With steps that faltered now and straining ears,
Timid, irresolute, yet dauntless still,
Who one bright dawn, when each remotest hill
Stood sharp and clear in Heaven’s unclouded blue
And all Earth shimmered with fresh-beaded dew,
Risen in the first beams of the gladdening sun,
Walked up into the mountains. One by one
Each towering trunk beneath his sturdy stride
Fell back, and ever wider and more wide
The boundless prospect opened. Long he strayed,
From dawn till the last trace of slanting shade
Had vanished from the canyons, and, dismayed
At that far length to which his path had led,
He paused — at such a height where overhead
The clouds hung close, the air came thin and chill,
And all was hushed and calm and very still,
Save, from abysmal gorges, where the sound
Of tumbling waters rose, and all around
The pines, by those keen upper currents blown,
Muttered in multitudinous monotone.
Here, with the wind in lovely locks laid bare,
With arms oft raised in dedicative prayer,
Lost in mute rapture and adoring wonder,
He stood, till the far noise of noontide thunder,
Rolled down upon the muffled harmonies
Of wind and waterfall and whispering trees,
Made loneliness more lone. Some Panic fear
Would seize him then, as they who seemed to hear
In Tracian valleys or Thessalian woods
The god’s hallooing wake the leafy solitudes;
I think it was the same: some piercing sense
Of Deity’s pervasive immanence,
The Life that visible Nature doth indwell
Grown great and near and all but palpable . . .
He might not linger, but with winged strides
Like one pursued, fled down the mountain-sides —
Down the long ridge that edged the steep ravine,
By glade and flowery lawn and upland green,
And never paused nor felt assured again
But where the grassy foothills opened. Then,
While shadows lengthened on the plain below
And the sun vanished and the sunset-glow
Looked back upon the world with fervid eye
Through the barred windows of the western sky,
Homeward he fared, while many a look behind
Showed the receding ranges dim-outlined,
Highland and hollow where his path had lain,
Veiled in deep purple of the mountain rain.
A few random poems:
- Robert Burns: When She Cam’ Ben She Bobbed :
- The Connaught Rangers by Winifred Mary Letts
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 45. The baby new to earth and sky poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Владимир Орлов – Март
- Sonnet 61: Is it thy will thy image should keep open by William Shakespeare
- “The Girt Woak Tree That’s In the Dell” by William Barnes
- Владимир Луговской – Спасибо
- The Happy Warrior by William Wordsworth
- A Woman Unconscious by Ted Hughes
- Mr. Mistoffelees by T. S. Eliot
- Candles by Sylvia Plath
- Church Going by Philip Larkin
- Let me Count the Poets Left by Michael K. Shiu
- Нина Воронель – Ломбардная баллада
- Джон Мильтон – О Шекспире
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
- Николай Рубцов – Зимняя песня
- Николай Рубцов – Жеребенок
- Николай Рубцов – Загородил мою дорогу
- Николай Рубцов – Я тебя целовал
- Николай Рубцов – Хороший улов
- Николай Рубцов – Возвращение из рейса
- Николай Рубцов – Воробей
- Николай Рубцов – Ветер всхлипывал, словно дитя
- Николай Рубцов – Весна на берегу Бии
- Николай Огарев – Я сорвал ветку кипариса
- Николай Огарев – Хандра
- Николай Огарев – Выпьем, что ли, Ваня
- Николай Огарев – В прогулке поздней видел я
- Николай Огарев – Тебе я счастья не давал довольно
- Николай Огарев – Свисти ты, о ветер, с бессонною силой
- Николай Огарев – Смутные мгновенья
- Николай Огарев – С полуночи ветер холодный подул
- Николай Огарев – Расстались мы
- Николай Огарев – Прощанье с краем, откуда не уезжал
- Николай Огарев – Предисловие к колоколу
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
Alan Seeger (1888-1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk musician, Pete Seeger.