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:
- Chungnan by Wang Wei
- Ольга Берггольц – Полуночная
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Отзыв на вызов
- Омар Хайям – Несовместимых мы порой полны желаний
- Robert Burns: Jerusalem Tavern, Dumfries.: Inscription On A Goblet
- Screw-Guns by Rudyard Kipling
- Edward Lear by W H Auden
- Morning News by Marilyn Hacker
- Reply to a Trimming Epistle, received from a Tailor by Robert Burns
- Paradise Regained: The Second Book poem – John Milton poems
- There is a Way by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Signals by Walid Saba
- The Ravaged Face by Sylvia Plath
- Erin! The Tear and the Smile in Thine Eyes by Thomas Moore
- Олег Бундур – Счастливый
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 Маяковский – Тёплое слово кое-каким порокам
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты знаешь это вот… (Главполитпросвет №267)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты хочешь освободиться от тяжести войны?.. (РОСТА №523)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты обут? Тебя обувает фабрика… (РОСТА №601)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты не пошел на фронт бить барона?.. (РОСТА №451)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты
- Владимир Маяковский – Тучкины штучки
- Владимир Маяковский – Трудовая взаимопомощь инвентарем (Агитплакаты)
- Владимир Маяковский – Тропики
- Владимир Маяковский – Тревога
- Владимир Маяковский – Третий вывоз
- Владимир Маяковский – Тресты
- Владимир Маяковский – Трагедия
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищу Нетте, пароходу и человеку
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищи, близятся ужасы зимы… (РОСТА №270)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарище, не забывайте о Врангеле-бароне! (РОСТА № 116)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ! Шахтер раздет… (РОСТА №603)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ Иванов
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ! Фронту помог ты… (РОСТА №444)
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищ Чичерин и тралеры отдает и прочее
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
