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:
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Лягушонка
- Такахама Кёси – Ливень прошел
- The Bayadere
- The Disquieting Muses by Sylvia Plath
- Little Fugue by Sylvia Plath
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – В метро
- General William Booth Enters into Heaven by Vachel Lindsay
- an evening’s music by Raj Arumugam
- Now Hollow Fires Burn Out to Black poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Bathing In The River
- Before a Midnight Breaks in Storm by Rudyard Kipling
- Forgotten Promises by Rixa White
- A Gift poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Milk-Maid O’ The Farm by William Barnes
- Ольга Седакова – Успение
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
- Николай Карамзин – Послание к женщинам
- Николай Карамзин – Послание к Александру Алексеевичу Плещееву
- Николай Карамзин – Покой и слава
- Николай Карамзин – Меланхолия
- Николай Карамзин – Любовь и дружба
- Николай Карамзин – Луизе в день ее рождения 13 генваря, при вручении ей подарка
- Николай Карамзин – Куплеты из одной сельской комедии, игранной благородными любителями театра
- Николай Карамзин – Клятва и преступление
- Николай Карамзин – К версальским садам
- Николай Карамзин – К соловью
- Николай Карамзин – К самому себе
- Николай Карамзин – К портрету Ломоносова
- Николай Карамзин – К неверной
- Николай Карамзин – К милости
- Николай Карамзин – К Лиле
- Николай Карамзин – К Эмилии
- Николай Карамзин – К Дмитриеву (Многие барды, лиру настроив)
- Николай Карамзин – К бедному поэту
- Николай Карамзин – К Алине на смерть ее супруга
- Николай Карамзин – Из письма к И. И. Дмитриеву (Но что же скажем мы о времени прошедшем)
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