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:
- Inscription. by Walt Whitman
- Robert Burns: The Epitaph:
- A Death-Day Recalled by Thomas Hardy
- Владимир Корнилов – В Македонии
- In Our Time by Michael D Wentworth
- Death Of A Naturalist by Seamus Heaney
- A Peck of Gold by Robert Frost
- Ballade Against The Jesuits poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Robert Burns: Anna, Thy Charms:
- Canto XIII poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Now Hollow Fires Burn Out to Black poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Belts by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Маяковский – Для чего оттягивают паны мириться?.. (РОСТА №264)
- The Greek National Anthem by Rudyard Kipling
- Did I Not Say To You by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
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
- In the Mile End Road poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- In the Black Forest poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- In September poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- In a Minor Key poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Impotens poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Felo de Se poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Contradictions poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Christopher Found poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Captivity poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Cambridge in the Long poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Borderland poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Between the Showers poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ballade of a Special Edition poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- At Dawn poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- At a Dinner Party poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Wall Flower poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Reminiscence poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Prayer poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- A March Day in London poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- A London Plane-Tree poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
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.