A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
If I’ve reached for your lines (I have)
like letters from the dead that stir the nerves
dowsed you for a springhead
to water my thirst
dug into my compost skeletons and petals
you surely meant to catch the light:
-at work in my wormeaten wormwood-raftered
stateless underground
have I a plea?
If I’ve touched your finger
with a ravenous tongue
licked from your palm a rift of salt
if I’ve dreamt or thought you
a pack of blood fresh-drawn
hanging darkred from a hook
higher than my heart
(you who understand transfusion)
where else should I appeal?
A pilot light lies low
while the gas jets sleep
(a cat getting toed from stove
into nocturnal ice)
language uncommon and agile as truth
melts down the most intractable silence
A lighthouse keeper’s ethics:
you tend for all or none
for this you might set your furniture on fire
A this we have blundered over
as if the lamp could be shut off at will
rescue denied for some
and still a lighthouse be
A few random poems:
- Robert Burns: My Heart’s In The Highlands:
- Иван Мятлев – Соловей
- First Sight by Philip Larkin
- A Tribute to Dr. Murison by William Topaz McGonagall
- Mountain Wellhead
- Irony poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Match poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Among The Narcissi by Sylvia Plath
- Николай Рубцов – Ветер всхлипывал, словно дитя
- Kashmiri Song
- Translations Dante Inferno Canto Xxvi
- Homing by Satish Verma
- Virtual Impressions by Renu Ayyar
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Кэрролла
- Honour
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
- Альфред Теннисон – Сёстры
- Альфред Теннисон – Странствия Мальдуна
- Альфред Теннисон – Смерть Старого Года
- Альфред Теннисон – Рыцарь Галаад
- Альфред Теннисон – Прощание
- Альфред Теннисон – Пересекая Черту
- Альфред Теннисон – Нищая и король
- Альфред Теннисон – Morte d’Arthur
- Альфред Теннисон – Лорд Борлей
- Альфред Теннисон – Леди Клара Вер-де-Вер
- Альфред Теннисон – Королева мая
- Альфред Теннисон – Годива
- Альфред де Мюссе – Вспомни обо мне
- Альфред де Мюссе – Все мною предано забвенью
- Альфред де Мюссе – Слова отчаянья прекрасней всех других
- Альфред де Мюссе – Прости
- Альфред де Мюссе – Песнь барберины
- Альфред де Мюссе – Печаль
- Альфред де Мюссе – Ночи
- Альфред де Мюссе – Не забывай! Когда заря рассвета
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

Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.