Meditation on a Bone

A piece of bone, found at Trondhjem in 1901, with the following runic inscription (about A.D. 1050) cut on it: I loved her as a maiden; I will not trouble Erlend’s detestable wife; better she should be a widow.

Words scored upon a bone,

Scratched in despair or rage —

Nine hundred years have gone;

Now, in another age,

They burn with passion on

A scholar’s tranquil page.

The scholar takes his pen

And turns the bone about,

And writes those words again.

Once more they seethe and shout

And through a human brain

Undying hate rings out.

“I loved her when a maid;

I loathe and love the wife

That warms another’s bed:

Let him beware his life!”

The scholar’s hand is stayed;

His pen becomes a knife

To grave in living bone

The fierce archaic cry.

He sits and reads his own

Dull sum of misery.

A thousand years have flown

Before that ink is dry.

And, in a foreign tongue,

A man, who is not he,

Reads and his heart is wrung

This ancient grief to see,

And thinks: When I am dung,

What bone shall speak for me?

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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 

• Анатолий Жигулин – Кукует поздняя кукушка by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Кострожоги by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Кордон Песчаный by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Коломенское by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Кладбище в Заполярье by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Калина by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Из больничной тетради by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Иду в полях by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Гулко эхо от ранних шагов by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Горят сырые листья by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Где теперь ты, рыжая by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Эпоха by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Дорога by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Деревья с черными грачами by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Дальние предки by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Цветы сажают в торф by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Черные листья осины by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Бросаю в воду хлеб by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Береза by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Белый-белый торжественный снег by Анатолий Жигулин

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Doska or the Board – write anything

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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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