by Ajmer Rode
Kalli followed me eight miles
to the market where
animals were traded like slaves.
Cows goats bullocks camels
Kalli was black beautiful and six
prime age for a water buffalo.
She was dry. Repelled bulls as if she had
decided never to go green.
Hard to afford, my father decided
to sell her.
She obeyed as I led her
by the steel chain, one end in my hand
the other round her neck.
I was fifteen. Her nervousness was over
soon after we entered the market
where sellers occupied
their given spaces like matrimonials
on a large weekly page.
Kalli sat down with no emotion in her eyes
like an ascetic close to nirvana.
I sat stood walked around like a
neglected calf. Nobody bought Kalli.
She followed me 8 miles back home
I wasn’t sure if Father was sad
or glad to see her back. He just
looked at her like a family member
who had missed the train.

A few random poems:
- The Lonely Climber: A Seed Poem by Mike Yuan
- The Motherless Child by William Barnes
- Sonet 58 by William Alexander
- Омар Хайям – Будь все добро мое кирпич один, в кружало
- On The Luxembourg Gallery by Washington Allston
- On Female Inconstancy (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- A Song by Robert Creeley
- Youth
- Николай Карамзин – Стихи на день рождения А. А. Плещеевой 14 октября
- Федор Сологуб – Ариадна
- The Sash by Sharon Olds
- Владимир Корнилов – Арена
- Two Hundred Years After by Siegfried Sassoon
- Olney Hymn 47: The Hidden Life by William Cowper
- John Keats – John Keats Poems
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: Come, Let Me Take Thee To My Breast:
- Robert Burns: Phillis The Queen O’ The Fair:
- Robert Burns: Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad:
- Robert Burns: By Allan Stream:
- Robert Burns: Had I A Cave:
- Robert Burns: Phillis The Fair:
- Robert Burns: Epigram On The Laird Of Laggan:
- Robert Burns: Epigrams Against The Earl Of Galloway:
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On A Lap-Dog Named Echo:
- Robert Burns: Bonie Jean-A Ballad:
- Robert Burns: O Were My Love Yon Lilac Fair:
- Robert Burns: Blythe Hae I been On Yon Hill:
- Robert Burns: Logan Braes:
- Robert Burns: The Last Time I Came O’er The Moor:
- Robert Burns: Impromptu On General Dumourier’s Desertion From The French Republican Army:
- Robert Burns: Grace Before And After Meat :
- Robert Burns: Grace After Meat:
- Robert Burns: Extempore Reply To An Invitation:
- Robert Burns: Kirk and State Excisemen:
- Robert Burns: The Raptures Of Folly:
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