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:
- long_i_waited_in_vain.html
- I See so Deeply Within Myself by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Hast Thou A Song For A Flower by William Gilmore Simms
- Late Evening Song by Weldon Kees
- Song of the Exposition. by Walt Whitman
- Ancient Sins by Satish Verma
- Unrequited Love – Why Can’t You Love Me Back?
- Goblins Of The Steppes poem – Alexander Pushkin
- La Vie Boheme poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- Федор Сологуб – Словно лепится сурепица
- Николай Огарев – Выпьем, что ли, Ваня
- The village girl models for the artist, 1904 by Raj Arumugam
- Intimidation by Satish Verma
- The Basket poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Apologize by Miraj Patel
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
- Waking In March by Philip Levine
- Told by Philip Levine
- They Feed They Lion by Philip Levine
- Then by Philip Levine
- The New World by Philip Levine
- The Helmet by Philip Levine
- The Distant Winter by Philip Levine
- Gangrene by Philip Levine
- Noon by Philip Levine
- Making Light Of It by Philip Levine
- Making It Work by Philip Levine
- Magpiety by Philip Levine
- Mad Day In March by Philip Levine
- M. Degas Teaches Art & Science At Durfee Intermediate School–Detroit, 1942 by Philip Levine
- Late Moon by Philip Levine
- Late Light by Philip Levine
- Last Words by Philip Levine
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
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