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:
- Sonnet 133: Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan by William Shakespeare
- He Reproves The Curlew by William Butler Yeats
- A Winter Ride poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Sea Took Pity poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Пируя праздник возвращенья
- Told by Philip Levine
- All Night In Savannah The Wind Wrote Poetry
- Николай Гумилев – Когда спокойно так и равнодушно мы
- The Eve Of Saint Mark. A Fragment poem – John Keats poems
- “`The smiling slopes with olive groves bedecked” poem – Alfred Austin
- A Musician’s Wife by Weldon Kees
- Николай Языков – А. А. Елагину (Была прекрасна, весела…)
- The Rupaiyat of Omar Kal’vin by Rudyard Kipling
- Альфред де Мюссе – Намуна
- Низами Гянджеви – Лица серебряный овал в сиянье покажи
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
- Waking In March by Philip Levine
- Told by Philip Levine
- They Feed They Lion by Philip Levine
- Then by Philip Levine
- The New World by Philip Levine
- The Helmet by Philip Levine
- The Distant Winter by Philip Levine
- Gangrene by Philip Levine
- Noon by Philip Levine
- Making Light Of It by Philip Levine
- Making It Work by Philip Levine
- Magpiety by Philip Levine
- Mad Day In March by Philip Levine
- M. Degas Teaches Art & Science At Durfee Intermediate School–Detroit, 1942 by Philip Levine
- Late Moon by Philip Levine
- Late Light by Philip Levine
- Last Words by Philip Levine
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
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