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:
- Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances. by Walt Whitman
- The Declaration of London by Rudyard Kipling
- Aftermath poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Hope And Riders
- Less Time poem – Andre Breton poems
- The Story Of Our Lives by Mark Strand
- For All We Have And Are by Rudyard Kipling
- The Nights Remember by Sara Teasdale
- Sonnet 148: O me! what eyes hath love put in my head by William Shakespeare
- Manifesto for your smile and my songs by Vinko Kalinic
- Sonnet 04
- Владимир Маяковский – Весенняя ночь
- Жан де Лафонтен – Городская и полевая Крысы
- The Fancy Feäir At Maïden Newton by William Barnes
- Михаил Лермонтов – Хоть давно изменила мне радость
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
- Федор Сологуб – Слышу голос милой
- Федор Сологуб – Словно лепится сурепица
- Федор Сологуб – Словами горькими надменных отрицаний
- Федор Сологуб – Слепой судьбе противореча
- Федор Сологуб – Сладко мечтается мне
- Федор Сологуб – Скупа Филис, но пыл мятежный
- Федор Сологуб – Скоро солнце встанет
- Федор Сологуб – Под холодною властью тумана
- Федор Сологуб – Под сению креста рыдающая мать
- Федор Сологуб – Под кустами
- Федор Сологуб – Под черёмухой цветущей
- Федор Сологуб – Побеждайте радость
- Федор Сологуб – Плачет безутешная вдова
- Федор Сологуб – Певице
- Федор Сологуб – Моя верховная воля
- Федор Сологуб – Лихо
- Федор Сологуб – Лиловато-розовый закат
- Федор Сологуб – Либава, Либава, товарная душа
- Федор Сологуб – Лежу и дышу осторожно
- Федор Сологуб – Лесная тропа
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