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:
- For The Anniversary Of My Death by W. S. Merwin
- The Blind by Sara Teasdale
- William Allingham – William Allingham
- A Fleeting Passion by William Henry Davies
- Robert Burns: Braw Lads O’ Galla Water:
- Федор Сологуб – Веет ветер мне навстречу
- Leaving Early by Sylvia Plath
- Valley-dawn by Sunil Sharma
- My Rival by Rudyard Kipling
- I had a little nut-tree, by Roald Dahl
- Outside The Village Church poem – Alfred Austin
- Only Breath by Jelaluddin Rumi
- I explain the silvered passing of a ship at night, by Stephen Crane
- The Sitter by Shel Silverstein
- The Admirers Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
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
- Limericks by Robby Charters
- It is a Show by Rixa White
- Haiku by Robby Charters
- Forgotten Promises by Rixa White
- For what’s worth breathing by Rixa White
- Everlasting Wander by Rixa White
- Drowned in Illusion by Rixa White
- Dropping Truth on That Pretty Little Head by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- Clinic by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- An Untold Love by Rixa White
- A Wandering Knight by Rixa White
- A Slight Change by Rixa White
- A Perfect World by Robby Charters
- Winged And Acid Dark by Robert Hass
- Under Cover of Night by Robert Desnos
- The Voice of Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos
- The Sympathies of the Long Married by Robert Bly
- The Song of the Borderguard by Robert Duncan
- The Ring of Stars by Robert Desnos
- The Cat in the Kitchen by Robert Bly
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