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:
- Let me Roam by Penny Leigh Moller
- Наум Коржавин – Кое-кому
- Robert Burns: The Weary Pund O’ Tow:
- The Burial Of Moliere poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Стефан Малларме – В идоложертвенном ликующем костре
- Whisper of the Star
- O Sing, Fair Lady, When With Me poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Eagle and the Dove by William Wordsworth
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Garden and Gardener. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- I am your friend by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Nature And the Book poem – Alfred Austin
- Яков Полонский – По горам две хмурых тучи
- The Voice of Woman by Shahida Latif
- The Storm
- Stir in Stillness by Shruti Talnikar
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
- INTO THE LAIR by Satish Verma
- Intimidation by Satish Verma
- In Transit by Satish Verma
- In Thoughtless Mind by Satish Verma
- In Abeyance by Satish Verma
- In a Sombre Mood by Satish Verma
- Impresa by Satish Verma
- Immaculacy by Satish Verma
- I Begin To Think by Satish Verma
- Hurting Dive by Satish Verma
- Homing by Satish Verma
- Pandering by Satish Verma
- Holding On by Satish Verma
- OPTIONS by Satish Verma
- OFF-LIMITS by Satish Verma
- Oblivion by Satish Verma
- O You by Satish Verma
- NIGHT RAID by Satish Verma
- Night Light by Satish Verma
- Muttering by Satish Verma
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