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:
- Spenser’s Ireland by Marianne Moore
- Robert Burns: Complimentary Versicles To Jessie Lewars: The Toast
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Любить
- Иван Бунин – Пустыня, грусть в степных просторах
- Apology to Mr. Syme for not dining with him by Robert Burns
- Love Sonnet XV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- My Words Embrace by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Lover’s Gifts LXX: Take Back Your Coins by Rabindranath Tagore
- Ballades II – Of The Book-Hunter poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Валерий Брюсов – Гребцы триремы
- La Nue
- On the Death of a Young Gentleman by Phillis Wheatley
- Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems
- Complaint Prometheus
- Николай Гумилев – Любовь весной
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
- Mother’s Death 1981 by Michael S Wilson
- Money, for a Decent Human Life without You by Mike Yuan
- Migration of the Mind by Mike Yuan
- Mid-Autumn Moon by Mike Yuan
- Meeting with Te Rauparaha by Michael O’Leary
- Matrimony by Mike Yuan
- March on, Yes! by Miles
- Make Love and War by Michael O’Leary
- Ma Wonders by Miraj Patel
- Lullaby of the Onion by Miguel Hernandez
- Live With Me On Earth Under the Invisible Daylight Moon by Milton Acorn
- Life of Paradoxes by Mike Yuan
- Languaculture by Mike Yuan
- Key and Knife (Two Haiku) by Mike Yuan
- (Inner Tube) by Michael Ondaatje
- In the Forest of Life by Mike Yuan
- If You Ask Me by Miraj Patel
- If I Got You by Miraj Patel
- I Wish This Lovely Time Never Ends by Miraj Patel
- I sink as I sail magnificently by Michael Nikoletseas
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.