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:
- Awed by her splendor by Sappho
- What is Creativity Anyway and How Come the Human Mind is So Good at It?
- English Poetry. Robert William Service. Dark Glasses. Роберт Уильям Сервис.
- At The Gate Of The Convent poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Маяковский – С винтовкой, но без знания – нет побед (РОСТА № 115)
- Юрий Галансков – Шиповник
- Михаил Лермонтов – Баллада (Куда так проворно, жидовка младая)
- Goblins Of The Steppes poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Quietness, Something to Consider… Or Not (2 Poems)
- Эмиль Верхарн – Восстание
- Robert Burns: On Glenriddell’s Fox Breaking His Chain: A Fragment
- Владимир Британишский – Чай
- Andromeda poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- True Love by Robert Penn Warren
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
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
- Николай Гумилев – Ночь
- Николай Гумилев – Никогда не сделаю я так
- Николай Гумилев – Неоромантическая сказка
- Николай Гумилев – Неизгладимы, нет, в моей судьбе
- Николай Гумилев – На Дуксе ли, на Бенце ль я
- Николай Гумилев – На далекой звезде Венере
- Николай Гумилев – На берегу моря
- Николай Гумилев – Мужик
- Николай Гумилев – Моя мечта летит к далекому Парижу
- Николай Гумилев – Мореплаватель Павзаний
- Николай Гумилев – Молитва мастеров
- Николай Гумилев – Маскарад
- Николай Гумилев – Маргарита
- Николай Гумилев – Маэстро
- Николай Гумилев – Мадагаскар
- Николай Гумилев – Людям будущего
- Николай Гумилев – Любовь весной
- Николай Гумилев – Луна на море
- Николай Гумилев – Лиловый цветок
- Николай Гумилев – Левин, Левин, ты суров
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.