I am sick today,
sick in my body,
eyes wide open, silent,
I lie on the bed of childbirth.
Why do I, so used to the nearness of death,
to pain and blood and screaming,
now uncontrollably tremble with dread?
A nice young doctor tried to comfort me,
and talked about the joy of giving birth.
Since I know better than he about this matter,
what good purpose can his prattle serve?
Knowledge is not reality.
Experience belongs to the past.
Let those who lack immediacy be silent.
Let observers be content to observe.
I am all alone,
totally, utterly, entirely on my own,
gnawing my lips, holding my body rigid,
waiting on inexorable fate.
There is only one truth.
I shall give birth to a child,
truth driving outward from my inwardness.
Neither good nor bad; real, no sham about it.
With the first labor pains,
suddenly the sun goes pale.
The indifferent world goes strangely calm.
I am alone.
It is alone I am.

A few random poems:
- Guenevere by Sara Teasdale
- Love’s Wisdom poem – Alfred Austin
- Flora by William Morris
- Rain After a Vaudeville Show by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Вера Полозкова – Мало ли кто
- On A Spaniel, Called Beau, Killing A Young Bird by William Cowper
- pathos_is_the_skyward_tanka.html
- If A Tree Could Wander by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Many Inventions by Rudyard Kipling
- Robert Burns: The Ordination : For sense they little owe to frugal Heav’n- To please the mob, they hide the little giv’n.
- Dirge for Two Veterans. by Walt Whitman
- Ancient Music poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Clever Stalk by Richard Schiffman
- Le Directeur by T. S. Eliot
- As I lay with Head in your Lap, Camerado. by Walt Whitman
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
- The Buried Train by Robert Bly
- The Defunct Drugstore by Robert Lloyd Jaffe
- The Apple Trees at Olema by Robert Hass
- Snowbanks North of the House by Robert Bly
- Sleep Spaces by Robert Desnos
- Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow by Robert Duncan
- No, Love Is Not Dead by Robert Desnos
- Need by Robert Lloyd Jaffe
- My Mother Would Be a Falconress by Robert Duncan
- Misery And Splendor by Robert Hass
- Lying Down by Robert Desnos
- Long Long Ago by Robert Desnos
- Iowa City: Early April by Robert Hass
- Interrupted Meditation by Robert Hass
- If You Only Knew by Robert Desnos
- Identity of Images by Robert Desnos
- I Have Dreamed of You so Much by Robert Desnos
- Heroic Simile by Robert Hass
- Fairy Tale by Robert Desnos
- Dove in the Arch by Robert Desnos
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