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:
- Владимир Маяковский – Письмо к любимой Молчанова, брошенной им
- Impromptu Lines to Captain Riddell by Robert Burns
- The village girl models for the artist, 1904 by Raj Arumugam
- Picture Puzzle Piece by Shel Silverstein
- The Markets Are Down 2 Amp A Quarter
- Song Unsung by Rabindranath Tagore
- Аля Кудряшева – Октябрь был дождем, непонятным месяцем
- Bigtime by Shel Silverstein
- The Sea And The Skylark poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- I bended unto me a Bough by Thomas Edward Brown
- Омар Хайям – Двести лет проживешь, или тысячу лет
- American Smooth by Rita Dove
- Константин Бальмонт – Морская песня
- Father by Philip Levine
- True Love by Robert Penn Warren
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 Kiss: A Dialogue by Robert Herrick
- His Poetry His Pillar by Robert Herrick
- His Mistress to Him at his Farewell by Robert Herrick
- His Loss by Robert Herrick
- His Last Request to Julia by Robert Herrick
- Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick
- An Ode of the Birth of our Saviour by Robert Herrick
- AN ODE FOR BEN JONSON by Robert Herrick
- AN HYMN TO THE MUSES by Robert Herrick
- An Epitaph Upon A Virgin by Robert Herrick
- AN EPITAPH UPON A CHILD by Robert Herrick
- AMBITION by Robert Herrick
- ALL THINGS DECAY AND DIE by Robert Herrick
- A VOW TO VENUS by Robert Herrick
- A Thanksgiving to God for His House by Robert Herrick
- A Ring Presented to Julia by Robert Herrick
- A REQUEST TO THE GRACES by Robert Herrick
- A Pastoral Upon The Birth of Prince Charles: Presented to the King, and Set by Mr Nic. Laniere by Robert Herrick
- A PASTORAL SUNG TO THE KING by Robert Herrick
- A PARANAETICALL, OR ADVISIVE VERSETO HIS FRIEND, MR JOHN WICKS 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

Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.