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:
- Hudibras and Milton Reconciled by William Somervile
- A child said, What is the grass by Walt Whitman
- Николай Рубцов – Я тебя целовал
- Life and Love by Nithin Purple
- The Quest by W H Auden
- A Portrait Of 1783 poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Conclusion by Sir Walter Raleigh
- To Her Beauty by Nithin Purple
- Михаил Лермонтов – Хаджи Абрек
- Владимир Британишский – Греч: Встреча с Батюшковым
- When I’m among a Blaze of Lights by Siegfried Sassoon
- Amabel by Thomas Hardy
- Николай Языков – А. Н. Очкину (Было время, мой приятель)
- To England At The Outbreak Of The Balkan War
- Вера Полозкова – Губы плавя в такой ухмылке
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
- As a Beam O’er the Face of the Waters May Glow by Thomas Moore
- And Doth Not a Meeting Like This by Thomas Moore
- An Incantation by Thomas Moore
- An Expostulation to Lord King by Thomas Moore
- An Argument by Thomas Moore
- Alone in Crowds to Wander On by Thomas Moore
- All In a Family Way by Thomas Moore
- After the Battle by Thomas Moore
- Which way does the wind blow? by Thomas J Camp
- Virgule by Thomas Lux
- Unlike, For Example, The Sound Of A Riptooth Saw by Thomas Lux
- Torn Shades by Thomas Lux
- The Road That Runs Beside The River by Thomas Lux
- The Progress of Poesy by Thomas Gray
- The Man Into Whose Yard You Should Not Hit Your Ball by Thomas Lux
- The Inheritance by Thomas J Camp
- The Holy Mountain of Hope by Thomas Ziemer
- The Curse Upon Edward by Thomas Gray
- The Bard by Thomas Gray
- Sonnet On The Death Of Mr Richard West by Thomas Gray
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.