A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
I know you are reading this poem
late, before leaving your office
of the one intense yellow lamp-spot and the darkening window
in the lassitude of a building faded to quiet
long after rush-hour. I know you are reading this poem
standing up in a bookstore far from the ocean
on a grey day of early spring, faint flakes driven
across the plains’ enormous spaces around you.
I know you are reading this poem
in a room where too much has happened for you to bear
where the bedclothes lie in stagnant coils on the bed
and the open valise speaks of flight
but you cannot leave yet. I know you are reading this poem
as the underground train loses momentum and before running
up the stairs
toward a new kind of love
your life has never allowed.
I know you are reading this poem by the light
of the television screen where soundless images jerk and slide
while you wait for the newscast from the intifada.
I know you are reading this poem in a waiting-room
of eyes met and unmeeting, of identity with strangers.
I know you are reading this poem by fluorescent light
in the boredom and fatigue of the young who are counted out,
count themselves out, at too early an age. I know
you are reading this poem through your failing sight, the thick
lens enlarging these letters beyond all meaning yet you read on
because even the alphabet is precious.
I know you are reading this poem as you pace beside the stove
warming milk, a crying child on your shoulder, a book in your
hand
because life is short and you too are thirsty.
I know you are reading this poem which is not in your language
guessing at some words while others keep you reading
and I want to know which words they are.
I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn
between bitterness and hope
turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse.
I know you are reading this poem because there is nothing else
left to read
there where you have landed, stripped as you are.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Высоцкий – Зарисовка о Ленинграде
- Robert Burns: O, Were I On Parnassus Hill:
- The Lads in Their Hundreds poem – A. E. Housman
- An April Love poem – Alfred Austin
- Song of the Universal. by Walt Whitman
- To a friend by Vinko Kalinić
- Владимир Маяковский – Раньше. Теперь
- Song. A Beautiful Mistress. by Thomas Carew
- Иван Бунин – Надпись на могильной плите
- Evening Love Song by Rainer Maria Rilke
- On Hearing The Bag-Pipe And Seeing “The Stranger” Played At Inverary poem – John Keats poems
- Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity poem – John Milton poems
- Astigmatism poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mules poem – Yuyutsu Sharma poems | Poetry Monster
- Sonnet 05 poem – John Milton poems
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
- Colonus’ Praise by William Butler Yeats
- Colonel Martin by William Butler Yeats
- Closing by William Butler Yeats
- Church And State by William Butler Yeats
- Chosen by William Butler Yeats
- Man And The Echo by William Butler Yeats
- Mad As The Mist And Snow by William Butler Yeats
- Lullaby by William Butler Yeats
- Long-Legged Fly by William Butler Yeats
- Lines Written In Dejection by William Butler Yeats
- Leda And The Swan by William Butler Yeats
- Lapis Lazuli by William Butler Yeats
- King And No King by William Butler Yeats
- John Kinsella’s Lament For Mrs. Mary Moore by William Butler Yeats
- Into The Twilight by William Butler Yeats
- In The Seven Woods by William Butler Yeats
- In Tara’s Halls by William Butler Yeats
- In Memory Of Major Robert Gregory by William Butler Yeats
- In Memory Of Eva Gore-Booth And Con Markiewicz by William Butler Yeats
- In Memory Of Alfred Pollexfen by William Butler Yeats
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.