Observation Car

To be put on the train and kissed and given my ticket,

Then the station slid backward, the shops and the neon lighting,

Reeling off in a drunken blur, with a whole pound note in my pocket

And the holiday packed with Perhaps. It used to be very exciting.

The present and past were enough. I did not mind having my back

To the engine. I sat like a spider and spun

Time backward out of my guts; or rather my eyes; and the track

Was a Now dwindling off to oblivion. I thought it was fun:

The telegraph poles slithered up in a sudden crescendo

As we sliced the hill and scattered its grazing sheep;

The days were a wheeling delirium that led without end to

Nights when we plunged into roaring tunnels of sleep.

But now I am tired of the train. I have learned that one tree

Is much like another, one hill the dead spit of the next

I have seen tailing off behind all the various types of country

Like a clock running down. I am bored and a little perplexed;

And weak with the effort of endless evacuation

Of the long monotonous Now, the repetitive, tidy

Officialdom of each siding, of each little station

Labelled Monday, Tuesday; and goodness ! what happened to; Friday ?

And the maddening way the other passengers alter:

The schoolgirl who goes to the Ladies’ comes back to her seat

A lollipop blonde who leads you on to assault her,

And you’ve just got her skirts round her waist and her pants round her feet

When you find yourself fumbling about the nightmare knees

Of a pink hippopotamus with a permanent wave

Who sends you for sandwiches and a couple of teas,

But by then she has whiskers, no teeth and one foot in the grave.

I have lost my faith that the ticket tells where we are going.

There are rumours the driver is mad; we are all being trucked

To the abattoirs somewhere; the signals are jammed and unknowing

We aim through the night full speed at a wrecked viaduct.

But I do not believe them. The future is rumour and drivel;

Only the past is assured. From the observation car

I stand looking back and watching the landscape shrivel,

Wondering where we are going and just where the hell we are,

Remembering how I planned to break the journey, to drive

My own car one day, to have choice in my hands and my foot upon power,

To see through the trumpet throat of vertiginous perspective

My urgent Now explode continually into flower,

To be the Eater of Time, a poet and not that sly

Anus of mind the historian. It was so simple and plain

To live by the sole, insatiable influx of the eye.

But something went wrong with the plan: I am still on the train.

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 

• Николай Рубцов – Зимняя песня by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Жеребенок by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Загородил мою дорогу by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Я тебя целовал by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Хороший улов by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Возвращение из рейса by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Воробей by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Ветер всхлипывал, словно дитя by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Рубцов – Весна на берегу Бии by Николай Рубцов
• Николай Огарев – Я сорвал ветку кипариса by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Хандра by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Выпьем, что ли, Ваня by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – В прогулке поздней видел я by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Тебе я счастья не давал довольно by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Свисти ты, о ветер, с бессонною силой by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Смутные мгновенья by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – С полуночи ветер холодный подул by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Расстались мы by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Прощанье с краем, откуда не уезжал by Николай Огарев
• Николай Огарев – Предисловие к колоколу by Николай Огарев

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.

 

Parallel Translations of Poetry

Poems by Author and Category

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