A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
Far back when I went zig-zagging
through tamarack pastures
you were my genius, you
my cast-iron Viking, my helmed
lion-heart king in prison.
Years later now you’re young
my fierce half-brother, staring
down from that simplified west
your breast open, your belt dragged down
by an oldfashioned thing, a sword
the last bravado you won’t give over
though it weighs you down as you stride
and the stars in it are dim
and maybe have stopped burning.
But you burn, and I know it;
as I throw back my head to take you in
and old transfusion happens again:
divine astronomy is nothing to it.
Indoors I bruise and blunder
break faith, leave ill enough
alone, a dead child born in the dark.
Night cracks up over the chimney,
pieces of time, frozen geodes
come showering down in the grate.
A man reaches behind my eyes
and finds them empty
a woman’s head turns away
from my head in the mirror
children are dying my death
and eating crumbs of my life.
Pity is not your forte.
Calmly you ache up there
pinned aloft in your crow’s nest,
my speechless pirate!
You take it all for granted
and when I look you back
it’s with a starlike eye
shooting its cold and egotistical spear
where it can do least damage.
Breath deep! No hurt, no pardon
out here in the cold with you
you with your back to the wall.
A few random poems:
- Lover’s Gifts XVI: She Dwelt Here by the Pool by Rabindranath Tagore
- re_word by RD McManes
- Олег Григорьев – Драка
- Inscription on a Grotto, the Work of Nine Ladies. poem – Alexander Pope
- MY BEST PAL by Steve Troyanovich
- athens_stone_of_sapphire_of_ground_the_ring.html
- Song by Margaret Widdemer
- At Algeciras; A Meditaton Upon Death by William Butler Yeats
- Private Property
- In Praise of Laziness by William Wycherley
- Sonnet X
- Алексей Толстой – Вeсeнние чувства
- Robert Burns: O Lay Thy Loof In Mine, Lass:
- We’re Late by W H Auden
- Robert Burns: Epistle To Major Logan:
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
- Fireflies in the Garden by Robert Frost
- Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
- Evening in a Sugar Orchard by Robert Frost
- Dust of Snow by Robert Frost
- Dust in the Eyes by Robert Frost
- Devotion by Robert Frost
- Design by Robert Frost
- Desert Places by Robert Frost
- Come In by Robert Frost
- Christmas Trees by Robert Frost
- But Outer Space by Robert Frost
- Brown’s Descent by Robert Frost
- Bond and Free by Robert Frost
- Blue-Butterfly Day by Robert Frost
- Bereft by Robert Frost
- Atmosphere by Robert Frost
- Asking For Roses by Robert Frost
- An Old Man’s Winter Night by Robert Frost
- An Encounter by Robert Frost
- An Empty Threat by Robert Frost
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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.