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:
- Sonnet Iv
- Robert Burns: The Whistle -A Ballad:
- Mind Extempore by Pawan Kumar
- Ольга Седакова – В винном отделе
- Mother Teresa by Raj Napal
- Bishop’s Caundle by William Barnes
- Алексей Жемчужников – Ты прав
- A Three-Part Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Высоцкий – В Средней Азии безобразие
- Владимир Британишский – Державин был солдат
- Liebestod
- Ballad of the Old Cypress by Tu Fu
- At Ease by Walter de la Mare
- The Old Lowe House Staten Island
- Robert Burns: News, Lassies, News:
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
- I’ll go and be a Sodger by Robert Burns
- Halloween by Robert Burns
- Green Grow The Rashes by Robert Burns
- Fragment on Sensibility by Robert Burns
- Fragment of Song—The Night was Still by Robert Burns
- Fragment of Song—“My Jean!” by Robert Burns
- Fragment—Her Flwoing Locks by Robert Burns
- For a’ that and a’ that by Robert Burns
- Fickle Fortune: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Fareweel To A’Our Scottish Fame by Robert Burns
- Extempore Reply to an Invitation by Robert Burns
- Extempore on some commemorations of Thomson by Robert Burns
- Extempore in the Court of Session by Robert Burns
- Extemporaneous Effusion on being appointed to an Excise Division by Robert Burns
- Esteem for Chloris by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on Wm. Graham, Esq., of Mossknowe by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on William Muir by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on William Hood, Senior by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on “Wee Johnnie” by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on the same 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.