A poem by Alan Dugan
Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes?
The wading, wintered pack-beasts of the feet
slough off, in spring, the dead rind of the shoes’
leather detention, the big toe’s yellow horn
shines with a natural polish, and the whole
person seems to profit. The opposite appears
when dead sharks wash up along the beach
for no known reason. What is more built
for winning than the swept-back teeth,
water-finished fins, and pure bad eyes
these old, efficient forms of appetite
are dressed in? Yet it looks as if the sea
digested what it wished of them with viral ease
and threw up what was left to stink and dry.
If this shows how the sea approaches life
in its propensity to feed as animal entire,
then sharks are comforts, feet are terrified,
but they vacation in the mystery and why not?
Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes?:
what the sun burns up of it, the moon puts back.
A few random poems:
- Election Ballad for Westerha’ by Robert Burns
- Upon Her Eyes by Robert Herrick
- Владимир Британишский – Итальянское путешествие
- On A Seven Day Diary
- Olney Hymn 27: Welcome To The Table by William Cowper
- A New Song to an Old Tune by William Ernest Henley
- These Fought in Any Case poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Вергилий – Лидия
- Юрий Левитанский – Человек, строящий воздушные замки
- My Heart Screams by Roberto Cocina
- Юлия Друнина – Хорошо молодое лицо
- Elm by Sylvia Plath
- Route Marchin’ by Rudyard Kipling
- Алексей Жемчужников – Верста на старой дороге
- The Memorial poem – Alexander Pushkin
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 Tame Bird Was In A Cage by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Sun Of The First Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Portrait — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Music Of The Rains – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Merchant by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Lost Star — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Last Bargain by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Kiss by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Kiss — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Home by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Hero — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Golden Boat by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVII: Trust Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVI: What Comes From Your Willing Hands by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXIX: Speak To Me My Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XI: Come As You Are by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXIX: I Often Wonder by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LVII: I Plucked Your Flower by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Call Of The Far — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
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.