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:
- Morning-Glory by Siegfried Sassoon
- November, 1806 by William Wordsworth
- Canto XLIX poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Boot And Saddle by Robert Browning
- Robert Burns: Will Ye Go To The Indies, My Mary?:
- Canto XIII poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Advice to the Ladies by William Somervile
- Auld Maitland poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Mind Extempore by Pawan Kumar
- A daily prayer by a kid by Sunil Sharma
- Miss Worthington by Rose Mary Boehm
- States! by Walt Whitman
- Chorus of Athenians poem – Alexander Pope
- Dining-Room Tea by Rupert Brooke
- One Being Brought From Africa To America by Phillis Wheatley
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
- Владимир Британишский – Отечественные записки 1840-х годов
- Владимир Британишский – От низменного к неземному
- Владимир Британишский – Округлы и оголены
- Владимир Британишский – Океан с континентом воюют
- Владимир Британишский – Огонь
- Владимир Британишский – Очереди
- Владимир Британишский – О, растенья-пустынники дюнных песков
- Владимир Британишский – О чем размышляют
- Владимир Британишский – О человеке
- Владимир Британишский – Ностальгия
- Владимир Британишский – Но особенно снился мне вздыбленный мост
- Владимир Британишский – Никитенко
- Владимир Британишский – Несбывшееся
- Владимир Британишский – Некрасов
- Владимир Британишский – Не поселятся ли олени
- Владимир Британишский – Не избранностью, не особенностью
- Владимир Британишский – Наш учитель истории
- Владимир Британишский – На полпути в Илимск
- Владимир Британишский – На Марсовом поле
- Владимир Британишский – По волхову
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