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:
- Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk by Robert Burns
- A Vision by Robert Burns
- Владимир Британишский – Чай
- To A Young Lady. On Her Recovery From A Fever by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Олег Григорьев – Жена торговала колбасой
- Николай Языков – Землетрясенье
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Я знаю, люблю я бесплодно
- The Ballad of East and West by Rudyard Kipling
- Cascade by Robert Desnos
- Ольга Седакова – Где-нибудь в углу запущенной болезни
- Address to the Unco Guid by Robert Burns
- Night A-Zetten In by William Barnes
- Know, Celia, Since Thou Art So Proud by Thomas Carew
- Владислав Ходасевич – Опять во тьме. У наших ног
- Poetic Justice by Robby Charters
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
- A Rustic Seat Near The Sea by William Lisle Bowles
- A Garden-Seat At Home by William Lisle Bowles
- Where fair Sabrina’s wand’ring currents flow by William Somervile
- To the Right Hon. The Earl of Halifax , with the Fable of the Two Springs by William Somervile
- To the Right Hon. Lady Anne Coventry by William Somervile
- To the Duke of Marlborough, upon His Removal From All His Places by William Somervile
- To the Author of the The Essay on Man by William Somervile
- To Dr. MReading Mathmatics by William Somervile
- To a Young Lady, with the Illiad of Homer Translated by William Somervile
- To a Lady, Who Made Me a Present of a Silver Pen by William Somervile
- To a Gentleman, Who Married His Cast Mistress by William Somervile
- To a Discarded Toast by William Somervile
- The Yeoman of Kent by William Somervile
- The Wolf and the Dog by William Somervile
- The Wise Builder by William Somervile
- The Two Springs by William Somervile
- The True Use of the Looking-Glass by William Somervile
- The Superannuated Lover by William Somervile
- The Sheep and the Bush by William Somervile
- The Lamentation of David Over Saul and Jonathan by William Somervile
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