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:
- Николай Карамзин – Куплеты из одной сельской комедии, игранной благородными любителями театра
- Валерий Брюсов – Двадцать лет назад ты умерла
- Epistle from Esopus to Maria by Robert Burns
- A Man Young And Old: X. His Wildness by William Butler Yeats
- Sonnet 91: Some glory in their birth, some in their skill by William Shakespeare
- Николай Глазков – Была зима
- Palm Trees By The Sea
- Николай Тихонов – Баллада о гвоздях
- Sonnet 22 poem – John Milton poems
- In A Station Of The Metro poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Владимир Британишский – Картина
- Николай Глазков – Чтоб улыбалось счастье
- A Gemini’s Hurt by Stephen Allen
- Jeane’s Wedden Day In Mornen by William Barnes
- Days Are Gone by Mary Etta Metcalf
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
- After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost
- Acquainted With the Night by Robert Frost
- Acceptance by Robert Frost
- A Winter Eden by Robert Frost
- A Time to Talk by Robert Frost
- A Star in a Stoneboat by Robert Frost
- A Soldier by Robert Frost
- A Servant to Servants by Robert Frost
- A Question by Robert Frost
- A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost
- A Peck of Gold by Robert Frost
- A Patch of Old Snow by Robert Frost
- A Passing Glimpse by Robert Frost
- A Minor Bird by Robert Frost
- A Late Walk by Robert Frost
- A Hundred Collars by Robert Frost
- A Hillside Thaw by Robert Frost
- A Girl’s Garden by Robert Frost
- A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey’s Ears, and Some Books by Robert Frost
- A Dream Pang by Robert Frost
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