To make sure
You have not said:
“I love you,”
They smell your breath.
They even smell your heart
Trying times are these, my darling.
They flog love
Tied to the post of the cul-de-sac
We must hide love in the closet.
In this serpentine maze
This crooked cold corner
They feed the fire
With poems and songs
Thinking, too, is risky.
Those who, late at night, knock on the door,
Are there to kill the lamp.
We must hide the light in the closet.
Then there are the butchers
Stationed at all cross-roads,
Armed with a block and a bloody cleaver.
Trying times these are, my darling.
Surgically,
They plant smiles on lips,
And songs in the mouths.
We must hide joy in the closet.
On lilies and lilacs,
They roast the canaries.
Trying times these are, my darling.
Drunk with victory, the Devil,
Celebrates our wake.
We must hide God in the closet.

A few random poems:
- Casualty by Seamus Heaney
- A Father’s Hands by Scott Ransopher
- Stepping Backward
- My Song by Rabindranath Tagore
- At Long Last
- Inscription to Chloris by Robert Burns
- Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Бахчисарай
- Николай Гумилев – Лесной пожар
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Ночью
- To a Discarded Toast by William Somervile
- No LOVE by venkatesh.valusa
- At the Top of My voice by Vladimir Mayakovsky
- Валерий Брюсов – Пленный лев
- This Dog by Rabindranath Tagore
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
- Sonnet (X) : In the search of the physical immortality by Neelam Sinha
- Sonnet (VIII) : Some left crown , some left land and some into exile by Neelam Sinha
- Sonnet (IX) : Flesh o flesh ! The momentous , the mortal , the doomed by Neelam Sinha
- Set me FREE by Neelam Sinha
- Riposte to the Bard: Sonnet 130 remade in my lady’s image by Neil Outar
- Rapture by Neil Outar
- Praises to my motherland ! by Neelam Sinha
- O the Chimneys by Nelly Sachs
- Mirage by Neelam Sinha
- Minnesang by Neil Outar
- Mama, Come Back by Nellie Wong
- Mad Nuclear Mushrooms by Adeola Ikuomola
- Lonely Poets by Ndue Ukaj
- Know thy SELF by Neelam Sinha
- Job by Nelly Sachs
- Immigranten by Ndue Ukaj
- Illusion of Time by Ndue Ukaj
- I too want to ESCAPE by Neelam Sinha
- I know you will remember ME by Neelam Sinha
- Hummingbird by Nicole M Nugent
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