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:
- The Boy by Vinko Kalinić
- Teacher
- Ольга Ермолаева – Симферопольский скорый
- In the Neolithic Age by Rudyard Kipling
- Михаил Лермонтов – Бартеневой
- George and Sarah Green by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: Ah, Woe Is Me, My Mother Dear: Paraphrase of Jeremiah, 15th Chap., 10th verse
- Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast As Thou Art poem – John Keats poems
- How a Little Girl Danced by Vachel Lindsay
- She got her wings by Mahak Raithatha S
- Sonnet Xiv
- Николай Карамзин – Из мелодрамы Петр Великий (Жил был в свете добрый царь)
- Moonbeam flowers by Preeth Nambiar
- Shema by Primo Levi
- Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf by Roald Dahl
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 Гумилев – Какое отравное зелье
- Николай Гумилев – Как труп, бессилен небосклон
- Николай Гумилев – Избиение женихов
- Николай Глазков – Размышленья
- Николай Глазков – Раздумья
- Николай Глазков – Рассчитывая на успех
- Николай Глазков – Пятнадцать лет спустя
- Николай Глазков – Пусть будет эта повесть
- Николай Глазков – Про пожары
- Николай Глазков – Про чертей
- Николай Глазков – Последний зимний
- Николай Глазков – Пошел тропой
- Николай Глазков – Покуда карты не раскрыты
- Николай Глазков – Поэзия! Ты не потерпишь фальши
- Николай Глазков – Поэтоград
- Николай Глазков – Подражание
- Николай Глазков – Почему я отказался от самолёта
- Николай Глазков – Эрмитаж
- Николай Глазков – Эпилог
- Николай Глазков – Движутся телеги и калеки
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