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 – Привет, КИМ
- The Gardener XIV: I Was Walking by the Road by Rabindranath Tagore
- Tip tap RAIN by Neelam Sinha
- I’ll go and be a Sodger by Robert Burns
- Fickle Fortune: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- The Dawn Of Gods Sabbath
- How Samson Bore Away the Gates of Gaza by Vachel Lindsay
- The Voice of Woman by Shahida Latif
- Вера Звягинцева – А если ты любишь не можешь
- Feeling Lucky to Be Irish
- Владимир Набоков – Я на море гляжу из мраморного храма
- Torn Shades by Thomas Lux
- Владимир Маяковский – Пример, не достойный подражания
- Вера Павлова – за руку здороваться с рекой
- Robert Burns: The Chevalier’s Lament:
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
- Scots Prologue for Mr. Sutherland by Robert Burns
- Sappho Redivivus: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn (Song) by Robert Burns
- Rhyming Reply to a Note from Captain Riddell by Robert Burns
- Reply to the Threat of a Censorious Critic by Robert Burns
- Reply to an Announcement by J. Rankine by Robert Burns
- Reply to a Trimming Epistle, received from a Tailor by Robert Burns
- Remorseful Apology by Robert Burns
- Remorse: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Prologue, spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh by Robert Burns
- Prologue spoken at the Theatre of Dumfries by Robert Burns
- Prayer—O Thou Dread Power by Robert Burns
- Poor Mailie’s Elegy by Robert Burns
- Poem on Sensibility by Robert Burns
- Song—A Waukrife Minnie by Robert Burns
- Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk by Robert Burns
- Song—A Man’s a Man for a’ that by Robert Burns
- Song—A Lass wi’ a Tocher by Robert Burns
- Song—A Health to them that’s awa by Robert Burns
- Song—A Health to ane I loe dear by Robert Burns
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.