Malaria

He lurks among the reeds, beside the marsh,

Red oleanders twisted in His hair,

His eyes are haggard and His lips are harsh,

Upon His breast the bones show gaunt and bare.

The green and stagnant waters lick His feet,

And from their filmy, iridescent scum

Clouds of mosquitoes, gauzy in the heat,

Rise with His gifts: Death and Delirium.

His messengers: They bear the deadly taint

On spangled wings aloft and far away,

Making thin music, strident and yet faint,

From golden eve to silver break of day.

The baffled sleeper hears th’ incessant whine

Through his tormented dreams, and finds no rest

The thirsty insects use his blood for wine,

Probe his blue veins and pasture on his breast.

While far away He in the marshes lies,

Staining the stagnant water with His breath,

An endless hunger burning in His eyes,

A famine unassuaged, whose food is Death.

He hides among the ghostly mists that float

Over the water, weird and white and chill,

And peasants, passing in their laden boat,

Shiver and feel a sense of coming ill.

A thousand burn and die; He takes no heed,

Their bones, unburied, strewn upon the plain,

Only increase the frenzy of His greed

To add more victims to th’ already slain.

He loves the haggard frame, the shattered mind,

Gloats with delight upon the glazing eye,

Yet, in one thing, His cruelty is kind,

He sends them lovely dreams before they die;

Dreams that bestow on them their heart’s desire,

Visions that find them mad, and leave them blest,

To sink, forgetful of the fever’s fire,

Softly, as in a lover’s arms, to rest.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random 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 

• Вера Павлова – Вот и пришли времена by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Вопрос ребра by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Весть обызвестковалась by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Вергилий в предсмертном бреду by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – В ранец тетрадки собраны by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Утро вечера мудренее by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Удобряю ресницы снами by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Учась любовной науке by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – У святителя вместо спины by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Ты вольно или невольно by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Твоя хладность by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Трогающему грудь by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Торчащее обтесать by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Толстые икры правителей by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Телефонные кнопки by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Сражаться с прошлым by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Снежную бабочку-однодневку by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Снег by Вера Павлова
• Вера Павлова – Слово держу осторожно by Вера Павлова
• Вера Полозкова – Или, к примеру, стоял какой-нибудь by Вера Полозкова

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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.

 

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The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works