My Sad Self poem – Allen Ginsberg

To Frank O’Hara

Sometimes when my eyes are red

I go up on top of the RCA Building

and gaze at my world, Manhattan-

my buildings, streets I’ve done feats in,

lofts, beds, coldwater flats

-on Fifth Ave below which I also bear in mind,

its ant cars, little yellow taxis, men

walking the size of specks of wool-

Panorama of the bridges, sunrise over Brooklyn machine,

sun go down over New Jersey where I was born

& Paterson where I played with ants-

my later loves on 15th Street,

my greater loves of Lower East Side,

my once fabulous amours in the Bronx

faraway-

paths crossing in these hidden streets,

my history summed up, my absences

and ecstasies in Harlem-

-sun shining down on all I own

in one eyeblink to the horizon

in my last eternity-

matter is water.

Sad,

I take the elevator and go

down, pondering,

and walk on the pavements staring into all man’s

plateglass, faces,

questioning after who loves,

and stop, bemused

in front of an automobile shopwindow

standing lost in calm thought,

traffic moving up & down 5th Avenue blocks behind me

waiting for a moment when …

Time to go home & cook supper & listen to

the romantic war news on the radio

… all movement stops

& I walk in the timeless sadness of existence,

tenderness flowing thru the buildings,

my fingertips touching reality’s face,

my own face streaked with tears in the mirror

of some window-at dusk-

where I have no desire-

for bonbons-or to own the dresses or Japanese

lampshades of intellection-

Confused by the spectacle around me,

Man struggling up the street

with packages, newspapers,

ties, beautiful suits

toward his desire

Man, woman, streaming over the pavements

red lights clocking hurried watches &

movements at the curb-

And all these streets leading

so crosswise, honking, lengthily,

by avenues

stalked by high buildings or crusted into slums

thru such halting traffic

screaming cars and engines

so painfully to this

countryside, this graveyard

this stillness

on deathbed or mountain

once seen

never regained or desired

in the mind to come

where all Manhattan that I’ve seen must disappear.

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Poems in English 

• Ольга Берггольц – Я тайно и горько ревную by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Из блокнота сорок первого года by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Мы предчувствовали полыханье by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Я иду по местам боев by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Я говорю by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Второй разговор с соседкой by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Встреча by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Возвращение by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Вот я выбирала для разлуки by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Воспоминание (И вот в лицо пахнуло земляникой) by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – В ложе Цимлянского моря by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – В доме Павлова by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Украина by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Твоя молодость by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Триптих 1949 года by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Тост by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Таков мой подарок тебе за измену by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Так еще ни разу не забыла by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Стихи о ленинградских большевика by Ольга Берггольц
• Ольга Берггольц – Старая гвардия by Ольга Берггольц

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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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