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:
- Ballades IV – Of Life poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Power Of Love by Valentine Mbagu
- Николай Гербель – На смерть воробья
- Иван Бунин – Беру твою руку и долго смотрю
- Alba poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Гавриил Державин – Подражание псалму (Терпел я, уповал на Бога)
- Ольга Высотская – Ежик
- Sin poem – Yao Ying poems | Poetry Monster
- Владимир Британишский – Есть добрая, есть и дурная слава
- let’s go mummy by Raj Arumugam
- Sonnet Xi
- An Eccho by William Alexander
- At Malvern by William Lisle Bowles
- King Arthur’s Men Have Come Again by Vachel Lindsay
- Robert Burns: Altho’ He Has Left Me:
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
- The Bell Buoy by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of the Red Earl by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of the King’s Mercy by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of the King’s Jest by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding-House by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad of East and West by Rudyard Kipling
- The Answer by Rudyard Kipling
- Tarrant Moss by Rudyard Kipling
- Sussex by Rudyard Kipling
- Study of an Elevation, In Indian Ink by Rudyard Kipling
- South Africa by Rudyard Kipling
- Song of the Wise Children by Rudyard Kipling
- Song of the Red War-Boat by Rudyard Kipling
- Song of Diego Valdez by Rudyard Kipling
- Soldier an’ Sailor Too by Rudyard Kipling
- Snarleyow by Rudyard Kipling
- Sir Richard’s Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Shillin’ a Day by Rudyard Kipling
- Seven Watchmen by Rudyard Kipling
- Seal Lullaby by Rudyard Kipling
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