A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок
(1880-1921)
In your hidden memories
There are fatal tidings of doom…
A curse on sacred traditions,
A desecration of happiness;
And a power so alluring
That I am ready to repeat the rumour
That you have brought angels down from heaven,
Enticing them with your beauty…
And when you mock at faith,
That pale, greyish-purple halo
Which I once saw before
Suddenly begins to shine above you.
Are you evil or good? You are altogether from another world
They say strange things about you
For some you are the Muse and a miracle.
For me you are torment and hell.
I do not know why in the hour of dawn,
When no strength was left to me,
I did not perish, but caught sight of your face
And begged you to comfort me.
I wanted us to be enemies;
Why then did you make me a present
Of a flowery meadow and of the starry firmament —
The whole curse of your beauty?
Your fearful caresses were more treacherous
Than the northern night,
More intoxicating than the golden champagne of Aï,
Briefer than a gypsy woman’s love…
And there was a fatal pleasure
In trampling on cherished and holy things;
And this passion, bitter as wormwood,
Was a frenzied delight for the heart!
A few random poems:
- Владимир Набоков – О, любовь, ты светла и крылата
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Любить
- Heaven, an envious home by Mahak Raithatha S
- In Effigiem Oliveri Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Николай Языков – В. А. Елагину (Светло блестит на глади неба ясной)
- Stings by Sylvia Plath
- On Teaching The Young by Yvor Winters
- Олег Бундур – Счастливый
- The Magi by William Butler Yeats
- REVOLT OF A SUTRA by Satish Verma
- Awaken by Mark Miller
- The Indian Upon God by William Butler Yeats
- Buried Love by Sara Teasdale
- The Strange Lady by William Cullen Bryant
- The Golden Age 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
- Content Written Off Ithica poem – Alfred Austin
- Chi È? poem – Alfred Austin
- By The Fates poem – Alfred Austin
- Burns’s Statue At Irvine poem – Alfred Austin
- “Beyond the pasture’s withered bents ” poem – Alfred Austin
- Before, Behind, And Beyond poem – Alfred Austin
- “Because I failed, shall I asperse the End” poem – Alfred Austin
- At Vaucluse poem – Alfred Austin
- At The Lattice poem – Alfred Austin
- At The Gate Of The Convent poem – Alfred Austin
- At Shelley’s House At Lerici poem – Alfred Austin
- At Shelley’s Grave poem – Alfred Austin
- At San Giovanni Del Lago poem – Alfred Austin
- A Woman’s Apology poem – Alfred Austin
- A Wintry Picture poem – Alfred Austin
- A Wintry Picture (II) poem – Alfred Austin
- A Wild Rose poem – Alfred Austin
- A Voice From The West poem – Alfred Austin
- A Twilight Song poem – Alfred Austin
- A Tusculan Question poem – Alfred Austin
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
Alexander Blok (1880-1921), also Block, was a Russian poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator and literary critic. A classic of Russian literature.