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:
- E.A. Nov. 6, 1900 by John Oxenham
- Константин Бальмонт – Нам нравятся поэты
- A Life Story
- Ages and Ages, Returning at Intervals. by Walt Whitman
- Today by Satish Verma
- A Love Song from the North by Sarojini Naidu
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 04 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Paradise On Earth! by V. Muthu Manickam
- Aboard at a Ship’s Helm. by Walt Whitman
- Василий Каменский – Из Симеиза в Алупку
- Гавриил Державин – Пчелка
- At Dover by William Lisle Bowles
- Валерий Брюсов – Есть что-то позорное в мощи природы
- Олег Сердобольский – Футболист
- Language by W. S. Merwin
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
- Pay your last respects by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- My rains by Vinko Kalinic
- My mother was telling me by Vinko Kalinic
- My angel’s face by Vinko Kalinić
- Missing Person by Vinita Agrawal
- Mi ha el by Vinko Kalinić
- Manifesto for your smile and my songs by Vinko Kalinic
- Lets go by Vinko Kalinić
- Legacy by Vinko Kalinić
- Joy of giving by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Instead of farewell by Vinko Kalinić
- If you love the life by Vinko Kalinić
- I don’t want to have you by Vinko Kalinic
- I am your friend by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- I’ve dreamt of dreaming ’bout you by Vinko Kalinić
- House For Sale by Vinita Agrawal
- Hey! Mr.Pothole by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Happy Teacher’s Day by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Get together by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Fear by Vinko Kalinić
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