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:
- An Essay On Criticism poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Николай Языков – С. П. Шевыреву (Тебе хвала, и честь, и слава)
- Morning at the Window by T. S. Eliot
- A Sketch by William Wordsworth
- Как воздух, математика нужна
- Second Epistle to Davie by Robert Burns
- Владимир Высоцкий – Величальная отцу
- Robert Burns: When She Cam’ Ben She Bobbed :
- Prospect by Sylvia Plath
- Love Of Life poem – Alfred Austin
- Identity poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- On Pedigree. From Epicharmus by William Cowper
- A Highly Valuable Chain Of Thoughts poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Four Corners by Michelle Bonczek Evory
- Омар Хайям – Благородные люди, друг друга любя
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
- Apologetic Postscript Of A Year Later by Robert Louis Stevenson
- An English Breeze by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Air Of Diabelli’s by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Ad Se Ipsum by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Ad Quintilianum by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Ad Piscatorem by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Ad Olum by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Ad Nepotem by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Ad Martialem by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Ad Magistrum Ludi by Robert Louis Stevenson
- About The Sheltered Garden Ground by Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Valentine’s Song by Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Thought by Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Good Play by Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Good Boy by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Upon Her Eyes by Robert Herrick
- The Hock-cart, or Harvest Home by Robert Herrick
- To Youth by Robert Herrick
- SOFT MUSIC by Robert Herrick
- The Bride-Cake by Robert Herrick
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.