A poem by Alan Dugan
Because of the unaccountable spirit of the troops
oh we were marched as we were never marched before
and flanked them off from home. Stupid Meade
was after them, head on to tail, but we convinced
him, finally, to flank, flank, cut off their head.
He finally understood, the idiot, and got a fort
named after him, for wisdom. He probably thought
Lee would conquer Washington from Appomattox
if he, Meade, should march his infantry behind
him, Lee. Ah well, the unaccountable spirit of the troops
triumphed, Meade got his fort, Grant got his presidency,
Sherman got his motto, what was it? War is heck?, Lee got a military school
for the education of young Southern gentlemen, and the Union
Army was taken over by Southern noncommissioned officers
in the wars against the Indians to the west. I know all
about this, I know who won, I served under them
for three hundred and fifty years in World War II,
just long enough not to be called a rookie but a veteran,
and realized the rank and order of my enemies:
first, the West Point officers; second, the red-neck sergeants;
third, the Nazis and perhaps the Japanese. I won
all of these wars as a private soldier, for a while,
and am happy to have done so: without me
Hitler and Hirohito would he ruling the world
instead of America and Russia, but I still will not
drive through Georgia with New York license plates.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Тайна
- Robert Burns: The Charming Month Of May:
- My Picture-Gallery. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка-представление орлёнком Эдом Атаки Гризли
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Маша
- Robert Burns: On Tam The Chapman:
- Sonnet 61: Is it thy will thy image should keep open by William Shakespeare
- Speaking To You (From Rock Bottom) by Michael Ondaatje
- Николай Глазков – Была зима
- A sense’s addiction to chocolate by SAAJIDA GORA
- Looking Across The Fields And Watching The Birds Fly by Wallace Stevens
- Stubborn by Roland Flint
- Your Poems on My Patio by Martina Reisz Newberry
- Facing West from California’s Shores. by Walt Whitman
- Hudibras and Milton Reconciled by William Somervile
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
- Screw-Guns by Rudyard Kipling
- Russia To The Pacifists by Rudyard Kipling
- Route Marchin’ by Rudyard Kipling
- Romulus and Remus by Rudyard Kipling
- Road-Song of the Bandar-Log by Rudyard Kipling
- Rimmon by Rudyard Kipling
- Rimini by Rudyard Kipling
- Recessional (A Victorian Ode) by Rudyard Kipling
- Recessional by Rudyard Kipling
- Rebirth by Rudyard Kipling
- Puck’s Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Public Waste by Rudyard Kipling
- Prophets at Home by Rudyard Kipling
- Prelude by Rudyard Kipling
- Possibilities by Rudyard Kipling
- Poor Honest Men by Rudyard Kipling
- Philadelphia by Rudyard Kipling
- Pagett, M.P. by Rudyard Kipling
- Outsong in the Jungle by Rudyard Kipling
- Our Fathers Also by Rudyard Kipling
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

Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.