A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
The world’s
not wanton
only wild and wavering
I wanted to choose words that even you
would have to be changed by
Take the word
of my pulse, loving and ordinary
Send out your signals, hoist
your dark scribbled flags
but take
my hand
All wars are useless to the dead
My hands are knotted in the rope
and I cannot sound the bell
My hands are frozen to the switch
and I cannot throw it
The foot is in the wheel
When it’s finished and we’re lying
in a stubble of blistered flowers
eyes gaping, mouths staring
dusted with crushed arterial blues
I’ll have done nothing
even for you?
A few random poems:
- Robert Burns: Beware O’ Bonie Ann:
- The Gardener LXIV: I Spent My Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- Николай Заболоцкий – Бетховен
- Алексей Жемчужников – Ты прав
- The Regret Of The Ranee In The Hall Of Peacocks
- Юнна Мориц – Это да, это нет
- The Goring by Sylvia Plath
- Федор Сологуб – Побеждайте радость
- Tithonus poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Robert Burns: The Birks Of Aberfeldy:
- The Yellow Violet by William Cullen Bryant
- Specula by Thomas Edward Brown
- In The Train by Sara Teasdale
- His Last Request to Julia by Robert Herrick
- A Dog’s Grave by Winifred Mary Letts
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
- Scots Prologue for Mr. Sutherland by Robert Burns
- Sappho Redivivus: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn (Song) by Robert Burns
- Rhyming Reply to a Note from Captain Riddell by Robert Burns
- Reply to the Threat of a Censorious Critic by Robert Burns
- Reply to an Announcement by J. Rankine by Robert Burns
- Reply to a Trimming Epistle, received from a Tailor by Robert Burns
- Remorseful Apology by Robert Burns
- Remorse: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Prologue, spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh by Robert Burns
- Prologue spoken at the Theatre of Dumfries by Robert Burns
- Prayer—O Thou Dread Power by Robert Burns
- Poor Mailie’s Elegy by Robert Burns
- Poem on Sensibility by Robert Burns
- Song—A Waukrife Minnie by Robert Burns
- Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk by Robert Burns
- Song—A Man’s a Man for a’ that by Robert Burns
- Song—A Lass wi’ a Tocher by Robert Burns
- Song—A Health to them that’s awa by Robert Burns
- Song—A Health to ane I loe dear by Robert Burns
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

Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.