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:
- Thistles by Ted Hughes
- The Booker Washington Trilogy by Vachel Lindsay
- After the Last Glacier is Gone by Benjamin Alva Polley
- angel_of_better_days_to_come.html
- Salut au Monde. by Walt Whitman
- A prayer to the Wind by Thomas Carew
- To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant
- To Seem The Stranger Lies My Lot, My Life poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Владимир Вишневский – Она идёт – как Восток алеет
- On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer poem – John Keats poems
- The Bride
- Unsung Hands by Satish Verma
- Story By Lalla Ji The Priest
- The Lime-tree Bower my Prison by Samuel Coleridge
- Олег Бундур – Однажды на даче
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
- Robert Burns: There Was A Bonie Lass:
- Robert Burns: Inscription At Friars’ Carse Hermitage: To the Memory of Robert Riddell.
- Robert Burns: Bonie Peg-a-Ramsay:
- Robert Burns: Epigram On Mr. James Gracie:
- Robert Burns: Epitaph For Mr. Gabriel Richardson:
- Robert Burns: Apology For Declining An Invitation To Dine:
- Robert Burns: Jerusalem Tavern, Dumfries.: Inscription On A Goblet
- Robert Burns: Compliments Of John Syme Of Ryedale: Lines sent with a Present of a Dozen of Porter.
- Robert Burns: The Solemn League And Covenant:
- Robert Burns: Craigieburn Wood:
- Robert Burns: A Man’s A Man For A’ That:
- Robert Burns: For The Sake O’ Somebody:
- Robert Burns: The Tear-Drop:
- Robert Burns: My Nanie’s Awa:
- Robert Burns: Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie:
- Robert Burns: Farewell Thou Stream:
- Robert Burns: Contented Wi’ Little And Cantie Wi’ Mair:
- Robert Burns: Philly And Willy:
- Robert Burns: Lassie Wi’ The Lint-White Locks:
- Robert Burns: The Charming Month Of May:
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