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:
- one_almost_might.html
- Untitled XIV by Yunus Emre
- Death Stands Above Me, Whispering Low by Walter Savage Landor
- What the Coal-Heaver Said by Vachel Lindsay
- The Way by Robert Creeley
- Ольга Высотская – Я зубы стисну, губы закушу
- Scots, Wha Hae Wi’ Wallace Bled by Robert Burns
- The Frantic by Mark Miller
- Как заработать на сочинении собственных стихов: варианты заработка денег стихотворениями – Poetry Monster
- Владимир Маяковский – У шахтера нет чая, нет табаку, нет сахару… (РОСТА №604)
- Альфред Теннисон – Странствия Мальдуна
- Psalm 81 poem – John Milton poems
- To A Cricket by Michael McGovern
- Владимир Высоцкий – Случай
- This Month The Almonds Bloom At Kandahar
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 Корнилов – Муки свободы
- Владимир Корнилов – Молодая поэзия
- Владимир Корнилов – Место
- Владимир Корнилов – Маросейка
- Владимир Корнилов – Лермонтов
- Владимир Корнилов – Кривая
- Владимир Корнилов – Командировка на Север
- Владимир Корнилов – Иннокентий Анненский
- Владимир Корнилов – Игра судьбы
- Владимир Корнилов – Гумилев
- Владимир Корнилов – Глухота
- Владимир Корнилов – Гитара
- Владимир Корнилов – Флейта в метро
- Владимир Корнилов – Эпоха
- Владимир Корнилов – Двое
- Владимир Корнилов – Дождь обычный
- Владимир Корнилов – Достается, наверно, непросто
- Владимир Корнилов – Дом
- Владимир Корнилов – Державинское
- Владимир Корнилов – Чтение
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