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:
- Scots, Wha Hae Wi’ Wallace Bled by Robert Burns
- Telescopes In The Square by Graham Rowlands
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 56. Томас Мур.
- Peace Or Glory
- Apollo the great by Neelam Shah
- Unlike, For Example, The Sound Of A Riptooth Saw by Thomas Lux
- Владимир Высоцкий – В тюрьме Таганской нас стало мало
- The ravings which my enemy uttered I heard within my heart by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- A Bard’s Epitaph by Robert Burns
- Sonet 50 by William Alexander
- On Rabbi Kook’s Street by Yehuda Amichai
- Whispers of Immortality by T. S. Eliot
- Sonnet 44: If the dull substance of my flesh were thought by William Shakespeare
- Written In A Volume Of The Comtesse De Noailles
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Геращенко
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
- Early summer rain by Yosa Buson
- Dawn by Yosa Buson
- Coolness by Yosa Buson
- Calligraphy of geese by Yosa Buson
- Buying leeks by Yosa Buson
- Blown from the west by Yosa Buson
- Blow of an ax by Yosa Buson
- Before the white chrysanthemum by Yosa Buson
- A bat flits by Yosa Buson
- Untitled XXVII by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XXVI by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XXV by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XXIX by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XXIV by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XXIII by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XXII by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XXI by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XX by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XVIII by Yunus Emre
- Untitled XVII by Yunus Emre
More external links (open in a new tab):
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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.