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:
- Seashore by Rabindranath Tagore
- Валерий Брюсов – И. Туманьяну надпись на книге (Да будет праведно возмездие)
- Goddess by Samuel Stephen Wakdok
- The Keys of Morning by Walter de la Mare
- The face wanted by Vinko Kalinić
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Час обыкновенный
- Khanaa’s Song by Mallika Sengupta
- An Indian Love Song by Sarojini Naidu
- Hyperion. Book III poem – John Keats poems
- Robert Burns: Epigram At Brownhill Inn:
- Earth the Healer, Earth the Keeper by William Morris
- The Palace of Art poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Владимир Высоцкий – Упрямо я стремлюсь ко дну
- Какое это счастье – Материнство
- Яков Полонский – Диссонанс
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
- A Terre by Wilfred Owen
- Arms And The Boy by Wilfred Owen
- Asleep by Wilfred Owen
- Exposure by Wilfred Owen
- Futility by Wilfred Owen
- Le Christianisme by Wilfred Owen
- An Imperial Elegy by Wilfred Owen
- But I Was Looking At The Permanent Stars by Wilfred Owen
- I Saw His Round Mouth’s Crimson by Wilfred Owen
- I know The Music (unfinished) by Wilfred Owen
- Hospital Barge At Cerisy by Wilfred Owen
- Has Your Soul Sipped? by Wilfred Owen
- Happiness by Wilfred Owen
- Greater Love by Wilfred Owen
- From My Diary, July 1914 by Wilfred Owen
- At A Calvary Near The Ancre by Wilfred Owen
- Apologia Pro Poemate Meo by Wilfred Owen
- Antaeus: [A Fragment] by Wilfred Owen
- A New Heaven (To-On Active Service) by Wilfred Owen
- 1914 by Wilfred Owen
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.