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:
- The Man In The Bowler Hat
- Among The Rice Fields
- La Fleur by Shaunna Harper
- Dialogue En Route by Sylvia Plath
- Ah! Sun-Flower by William Blake
- Robert Burns: To Dr. Maxwell: On Miss Jessy Staig’s recovery.
- The Bugler’s First Communion poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Plains
- 1954 by Sharon Olds
- Let Him Free by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Olive Branch by Satish Verma
- Ballade Of The Summer Term poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
- Robert Burns: Delia, An Ode : “To the Editor of The Star.-Mr. Printer-If the productions of a simple ploughman can merit a place in the same paper with Sylvester Otway, and the other favourites of the Muses who illuminate the Star with the lustre of genius, your insertion of the enclosed trifle will be succeeded by future communications from-Yours, &c., R. Burns. Ellisland, near Dumfries, 18th May, 1789.”
- Effigy Of A Nun by Sara Teasdale
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
- When ‘Omer Smote ‘Is Bloomin’ Lyre by Rudyard Kipling
- When Earth’s Last Picture Is Painted by Rudyard Kipling
- What the People Said by Rudyard Kipling
- What Happened by Rudyard Kipling
- Ulster by Rudyard Kipling
- Two Months by Rudyard Kipling
- Two Kopjes by Rudyard Kipling
- Troopin’ by Rudyard Kipling
- Tommy by Rudyard Kipling
- Tin Fish by Rudyard Kipling
- The Young British Soldier by Rudyard Kipling
- The Wishing-Caps by Rudyard Kipling
- The Winners by Rudyard Kipling
- The Widow at Windsor by Rudyard Kipling
- The Truce of the Bear by Rudyard Kipling
- The Thousandth Man by Rudyard Kipling
- The Story of Uriah by Rudyard Kipling
- The Story of Ung by Rudyard Kipling
- The Sons of Martha by Rudyard Kipling
- The Songs of the Lathes by Rudyard Kipling
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