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:
- Discretion by Satish Verma
- Владимир Маяковский – Близится сушь… (Главполитпросвет №184)
- Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot poem – Alexander Pope
- Кондратий Рылеев – К Делии
- The Lesson by Roger McGough
- Orlando Furioso Canto 7 by Ludovico Ariosto
- Hours Continuing Long. by Walt Whitman
- Олег Бундур – Папа собирается на рыбалку
- A Prayer poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Зинаида Александрова – Раз – два – три – четыре – пять
- Drift Wood by Satish Verma
- The Rose of Midnight by Vachel Lindsay
- 1926 by Weldon Kees
- Savour Your Life by Ronald G. Auguste
- Mystic Trumpeter, The. by Walt Whitman
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
- Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись 3 к статуе Петра Великого
- Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись 1 к статуе Петра Великого
- Михаил Ломоносов – На сочетание стихов Российских
- Михаил Ломоносов – На Сарское село августа 24 дня 1764 года
- Михаил Ломоносов – На Фридриха II, короля Прусского (Сочинение господина Вольтера, переведенное господином Ломоносовым)
- Михаил Ломоносов – Молчите, струйки чисты
- Михаил Ломоносов – Лишь только дневной шум замолк
- Михаил Ломоносов – День коронования Великия государыни императрицы Елисаветы Петровны
- Михаил Ломоносов – Чем ты дале прочь отходишь
- Михаил Ломоносов – Богиня, дщерь божеств, науки основавших
- Михаил Лермонтов – Звуки и взор
- Михаил Лермонтов – Зови надежду сновиденьем
- Михаил Лермонтов – Жена севера
- Михаил Лермонтов – Желанье
- Михаил Лермонтов – Земля и небо
- Михаил Лермонтов – Завещание
- Михаил Лермонтов – Забудь опять свои надежды
- Михаил Лермонтов – Юнкерская молитва
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я видел тень блаженства
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я счастлив, тайный яд течёт в моей крови
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