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:
- Федор Сваровский – Простая история
- Like Truthless Dreams, So Are My Joys Expired by Sir Walter Raleigh
- The Vain Question
- Владимир Степанов – Енот (Буква Е)
- Sculpture of Debris on the Waterfront by Martina Reisz Newberry
- An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin
- Стефан Малларме – Ее ногтей ожив, что ожил из пароса
- Lemmebesomethin’ by Shel Silverstein
- The Burial by Rudyard Kipling
- Kyrenaikos
- The Polar Koala Bear by Robby Charters
- Sonnet CXLII by William Shakespeare
- A dragonfly that committed suicide by Preeth Nambiar
- Written Juice Lemon
- Hug O’War by Shel Silverstein
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
- Medusa by Sylvia Plath
- Moonrise by Sylvia Plath
- Medallion by Sylvia Plath
- Mirror by Sylvia Plath
- Maudlin by Sylvia Plath
- Midsummer Mobile by Sylvia Plath
- Magnolia Shoals by Sylvia Plath
- Metaphors by Sylvia Plath
- Magi by Sylvia Plath
- Medusa by Sylvia Plath
- Maenad by Sylvia Plath
- Medallion by Sylvia Plath
- Lyonnesse by Sylvia Plath
- Maudlin by Sylvia Plath
- Lorelei by Sylvia Plath
- Magnolia Shoals by Sylvia Plath
- Little Fugue by Sylvia Plath
- Magi by Sylvia Plath
- Maenad by Sylvia Plath
- Lyonnesse by Sylvia Plath
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