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:
- Song. Written On A Blank Page In Beaumont And Fletcher’s Works poem – John Keats poems
- Ben Nevis: A Dialogue poem – John Keats poems
- Song—A Fiddler in the North by Robert Burns
- Poor Mailie’s Elegy by Robert Burns
- J–K. Huysmans poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Coming to Terms by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Олег Бундур – Пёс
- Валерий Брюсов – Песня североамериканских индейцев
- Why Me? by Michael Yuan
- Grand Slam Night poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- To E.S. Salomon poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Юлия Друнина – В голом парке коченеют клёны
- My impure god and I by Murali Sivaramakrishnan
- Алексей Плещеев – Бабушка и внучек
- The Window Freäm’d Wi’ Stwone by William Barnes
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
- Rain After a Vaudeville Show by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Portrait of a Boy by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Portrait of a Baby by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Poor Devil! by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Nos Immortales by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Music by Stephen Vincent Benet
- May Morning by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Love in Twilight by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Lonely Burial by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Going Back to School by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Elegy for an Enemy by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Dinner in a Quick Lunch Room by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Dedication by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Colors by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Before an Examination by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Alexander VI Dines with the Cardinal of Capua by Stephen Vincent Benet
- A Minor Poet by Stephen Vincent Benet
- The Grammar Lesson by Steve Kowit
- The Convoy by Stephenie Tucker
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