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:
- There is a Candle in your Heart by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- The time has come for us to become madmen in your chain by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- A Valentine’s Song by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Николай Карамзин – Филлиде
- The Wound by Robert McNamara
- Юлия Жадовская – Да, я вижу
- Canto I poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Jewel Stairs’ Grievance poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Казалось
- still the leaves fall… and dream by Steve Troyanovich
- At Shelley’s Grave poem – Alfred Austin
- Вера Звягинцева – Шафрановым загаром
- Words You Said poem – Andrew Neil Maternick poems | Poems and Poetry
- Николай Языков – Дума (Одну минуту, много две)
- Владимир Набоков – Путь
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 Sea by Martin Zakovski
- To Dorothy by Marvin Bell
- The Dreadful Has Already Happened by Mark Strand
- The Dragon and The Unicorn by Mary Etta Metcalf
- They Thought Her Crazy by Mary Etta Metcalf
- These Green-Going-to-Yellow by Marvin Bell
- The Last Wolf by Mary TallMountain
- The Homeless Man by Mary TallMountain
- The Story Of Our Lives by Mark Strand
- Telescope by Mark R Slaughter
- The Self and the Mulberry by Marvin Bell
- Sunflowers by Martin Willitts Jr.
- The Room by Mark Strand
- Speaking the Language of Deer by Martin Willitts Jr.
- The River Has Its Memories by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Some Say by Mark Miller
- The River by Mark Olynyk
- So You Say by Mark Strand
- Slag by Mark Base
- The Remains by Mark Strand
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