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:
- Come O’er the Sea by Thomas Moore
- South Africa by Rudyard Kipling
- The house where I was born (06) by Yves Bonnefoy
- America
- Book Seventh [Residence in London] by William Wordsworth
- Sonnet 66: Tired with all these, for restful death I cry by William Shakespeare
- Copla Suelta: The One and the Same Dream by T. Wignesan
- Sonet 50 by William Alexander
- “Let the nymph still avoid and be deaf to the swain” by Tobias Smollett
- Юнна Мориц – Бетани
- Аля Кудряшева – М. и П.
- Death In Exile by Satish Verma
- Now Close the Windows by Robert Frost
- Before you go a little way prospecting by T. Wignesan
- Spider by Sylvia Plath
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
- Song. A Beautiful Mistress. by Thomas Carew
- Song by Thomas Carew
- Secrecy Protested. by Thomas Carew
- Persuasions to Joy, a Song by Thomas Carew
- My Mistress Commanding Me to Return Her Letters. by Thomas Carew
- Mediocrity in Love Rejected by Thomas Carew
- Lips and Eyes. by Thomas Carew
- Know, Celia, Since Thou Art So Proud by Thomas Carew
- Ingrateful Beauty Threatened by Thomas Carew
- I Do Not Love Thee For That Fair by Thomas Carew
- He That Loves A Rosy Cheek by Thomas Carew
- Epitaph On the Lady Mary Villiers by Thomas Carew
- Epitaph for Maria Wentworth by Thomas Carew
- Disdain Returned by Thomas Carew
- Celia Beeding, To the Surgeon by Thomas Carew
- Boldness in Love by Thomas Carew
- Ask Me No More by Thomas Carew
- Another by Thomas Carew
- An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of St. Paul’s, Dr. John by Thomas Carew
- A Song: When June is Past, the Fading Rose by Thomas Carew
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