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 146: Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth by William Shakespeare
- Ольга Берггольц – Она дарить любила
- Cuckoo Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Away, Melancholy by Stevie Smith
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
- The Childless Father by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: The Rantin’ Dog, The Daddie O’t:
- Ирина Токмакова – Каша
- I Heard You, Solemn-sweet Pipes of the Organ. by Walt Whitman
- Юрий Верховский – Судьба с судьбой
- Blessens A-Left by William Barnes
- Song of the Universal. by Walt Whitman
- For K. J., Leaving and Coming Back by Marilyn Hacker
- Олег Бундур – Вечером
- Николай Карамзин – К милости
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
- Post coitum omne animal triste est sive gallus et mulier by T. Wignesan.
- Plaidoirie for a “Prince” of Jaffna by T. Wignesan
- Petrarchan Sonnet: If no one else breathed in this wide, wide world by T. Wignesan
- Paris, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s poem: Paris by T. Wignesan.
- Nevermore, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s sonnet: Nevermore by T. Wignesan
- Master Valluvan, the long-misunderstood Tamil Mentor by T. Wignesan
- Limerick: Once a Great Leader with empty pockets by T. Wignesan
- Criss-Cross Acrostic*: Ai My Eye ! by T. Wignesan
- Copla Suelta: The One and the Same Dream by T. Wignesan
- Ballade: In favour of those called Decadents and Symbolists, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s Ballade: En faveur des dénommés Déca by T Wignesan
- Am I the Assassin or the Undertaker by T. Wignesan
- Whispers of Immortality by T. S. Eliot
- The Song Of The Jellicles by T. S. Eliot
- The Rum Tum Tugger by T. S. Eliot
- The Old Gumbie Cat by T. S. Eliot
- The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot
- The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot
- The Boston Evening Transcript by T. S. Eliot
- The Ad-Dressing Of Cats by T. S. Eliot
- Sweeney Erect by T. S. Eliot
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