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:
- Ode To Sleep by Thomas Warton
- The Self We Share by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Purple Heart Liz (My Girl At Woodstock) by Steve Sant
- Олег Бундур – Не верится
- Song—A Man’s a Man for a’ that by Robert Burns
- Song—She’s Fair and Fause by Robert Burns
- Иосиф Бродский – Бюст Тиберия
- Вера Павлова – Объятье
- It Is Not A Word by Sara Teasdale
- Гавриил Державин – На выздоровление мецената
- The First Part: Sonnet 10 – Fair Moon, who with thy cold and silver shine by William Drummond
- Зинаида Александрова – Невидимка
- The Rising and Falling of Trees by Patricia Fargnoli
- Waking at 3 a.m. by William Stafford
- World Below the Brine, The. by Walt Whitman
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
- Adieu to a Soldier by Walt Whitman
- Aboard at a Ship’s Helm. by Walt Whitman
- A Woman Waits for Me. by Walt Whitman
- A Sight in Camp. by Walt Whitman
- A Paumanok Picture. by Walt Whitman
- A March in the Ranks, Hard-prest. by Walt Whitman
- A Leaf for Hand in Hand. by Walt Whitman
- A Hand-Mirror. by Walt Whitman
- A Farm-Picture. by Walt Whitman
- A child said, What is the grass by Walt Whitman
- The Well Of Love by Walter William Safar
- Conscience by Walter William Safar
- A Port Of Refuge Agleam With The Aura Of Love by Walter William Safar
- A poem to mankind by Walter William Safar
- A Poem Of Love by Walter William Safar
- The Huntsmen by Walter de la Mare
- The Ghost by Walter de la Mare
- Snow by Walter de la Mare
- The Mocking Fairy by Walter de la Mare
- The Keys of Morning by Walter de la Mare
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.