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:
- Faun by Sylvia Plath
- A Shakespeare Memorial poem – Alfred Austin
- Then by Philip Levine
- A Petition poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Маяковский – С Польшей подписан мир… (РОСТА №428)
- Bound Home to Mount Song by Wang Wei
- Владимир Высоцкий – Живёт на свете человек
- Иван Варавва – На окраине села
- Валерий Брюсов – Глупое сердце, о чем же печалиться
- Twilight poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The One-Legged Man by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Mystic Isle by Rainbow Reed
- Альфред Теннисон – Волшебница Шалот
- Charm, The by Rupert Brooke
- Arabian Night’s Entertainments by William Ernest Henley
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
- Ольга Седакова – Земля
- Ольга Седакова – Я жизнь в порыве жить
- Ольга Седакова – Хильдегарда
- Ольга Седакова – Вьюга
- Ольга Седакова – Всё, и сразу
- Ольга Седакова – Все труды
- Ольга Седакова – Вода-крестьянка
- Ольга Седакова – Ветер прощанья
- Ольга Седакова – Вениамин
- Ольга Седакова – Вечерняя песня
- Ольга Седакова – В винном отделе
- Ольга Седакова – В незапамятных зимах
- Ольга Седакова – В это зыбкое скопленье
- Ольга Седакова – Успение
- Ольга Седакова – Три зеркала
- Ольга Седакова – Три богини
- Ольга Седакова – Только время доходит сюда
- Ольга Седакова – То в теплом золоте, в широких переплетах
- Ольга Седакова – Старый поэт (Постскриптум)
- Ольга Седакова – Стансы третьи (Вино и плавание)
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