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:
- Songs of Joy by William Henry Davies
- Heart of God by Vachel Lindsay
- Как тяжело, когда идет война
- The White Pall Of Peace poem – Alfred Austin
- Низами Гянджеви – От сердца всю ночь мечтал
- Rural Reflections
- Николай Карамзин – К соловью
- The Russian Fugitive by William Wordsworth
- Николай Гумилев – На берегу моря
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Есть много всяких мук – и много я их знаю)
- Федор Сологуб – Там, внизу, костры горели
- I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin
- My Highland Lassie, O by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on a Tyrant by W. H. Auden
- Федор Сологуб – Золушка
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
- The Song Of Wandering Aengus by William Butler Yeats
- The Song Of The Old Mother by William Butler Yeats
- The Shadowy Waters: The Harp of Aengus by William Butler Yeats
- The Seven Sages by William Butler Yeats
- The Secret Rose by William Butler Yeats
- The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats
- The Scholars by William Butler Yeats
- The Saint And The Hunchback by William Butler Yeats
- The Sad Shepherd by William Butler Yeats
- The Rose Tree by William Butler Yeats
- The Rose Of The World by William Butler Yeats
- The Rose Of Peace by William Butler Yeats
- The Rose Of Battle by William Butler Yeats
- The Results Of Thought by William Butler Yeats
- The Realists by William Butler Yeats
- The Poet Pleads With The Elemental Powers by William Butler Yeats
- The Pity Of Love by William Butler Yeats
- The Pilgrim by William Butler Yeats
- The Phases Of The Moon by William Butler Yeats
- The People by William Butler Yeats
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.