by Alan Noakes
Yes the ‘if onlys’ seem to persist for ever
As hovering wraithlike used-up dreams.
‘if only ‘ this or that
On such and such a day
Had varied by an hour or an inch
Or something neglected had been done
Or that something done had been neglected
Then ‘perhaps’ the other might have been:
But then
‘perhaps’ and ‘if only’ are first cousins
Addicted to survival only in our minds.
Copyright ©:
Alan Noakes

A few random poems:
- Thanksgiving for a Habitat by W H Auden
- A Star in a Stoneboat by Robert Frost
- Nature And the Book poem – Alfred Austin
- Two Lacquer Prints poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Гавриил Державин – К силуэту Ивана Ивановича Хемницера
- Василий Курочкин – Старая песня
- Even As A Dragon’s Eye That Feels The Stress by William Wordsworth
- Шекспир – Но не боюсь и смерть – Сонет 80
- Dialogue Song—Philly and Willy by Robert Burns
- In Memoriam
- Юлия Друнина – Слалом
- Robert Burns: Scots’ Prologue For Mr. Sutherland: On his Benefit-Night, at the Theatre, Dumfries.
- Alciphron and Leucippe by Walter Savage Landor
- Translations Dante Inferno Canto Xxvi
- Grief by Philip Larkin
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
- To Mrs. M. B. On Her Birthday poem – Alexander Pope
- Macer : A Character poem – Alexander Pope
- Lines Written in Windsor Forest poem – Alexander Pope
- Inscription on a Grotto, the Work of Nine Ladies. poem – Alexander Pope
- In Imitation of Spenser : The Alley poem – Alexander Pope
- In Imitation of E. of Rochester : On Silence poem – Alexander Pope
- In Imitation of E. of Dorset : Artemisia poem – Alexander Pope
- In Imitation of Dr. Swift : The Happy Life of a Country Parson poem – Alexander Pope
- In Imitation of Cowley : The Garden poem – Alexander Pope
- In Imitation of Chaucer poem – Alexander Pope
- Farewell to London poem – Alexander Pope
- Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount.[On Her Leaving The Town After The Coronation] poem – Alexander Pope
- Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount.[On Her Leaving The Town After The Coronation] poem – Alexander Pope
- Chorus of Youths and Virgins poem – Alexander Pope
- Chorus of Athenians poem – Alexander Pope
- Autumn – The Third Pastoral, or Hylas and Ægon poem – Alexander Pope
- To the Author of a Poem Entitled Succession poem – Alexander Pope
- An Essay on Man: Epistle II poem – Alexander Pope
- You Know Where You Did Despise poem – Alexander Pope
- Universal Prayer poem – Alexander Pope
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