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:
- Song to the Evening Star by Thomas Campbell
- The Dunciad: Book IV poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мао Цзедун большой шалун
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, товарищ! Если ты пришел на Сухаревку… (РОСТА №262)
- Camp Followers Song Gomal River
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- Robert Burns: Thanksgiving For A National Victory:
- A Man Young And Old: III. The Mermaid by William Butler Yeats
- Wild Soul by Michael Yuan
- Elegiac Stanzas Suggested By A Picture Of Peele Castle by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: Versicles On Sign-Posts :
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
- Robert Burns: The Epitaph:
- Robert Burns: Elegy On Captain Matthew Henderson: A Gentleman who held the Patent for his Honours immediately from Almighty God.
- Robert Burns: Election Ballad: At the close of the contest for representing the Dumfries Burghs, 1790. Addressed to R. Graham, Esq. of Fintry.
- Robert Burns: Gudewife, Count The Lawin:
- Robert Burns: I Murder Hate:
- Robert Burns: The Gowden Locks Of Anna:
- Robert Burns: Elegy On Willie Nicol’s Mare:
- Robert Burns: Lines To A Gentleman,: Who had sent the Poet a Newspaper, and offered to continue it free of Expense.
- Robert Burns: Scots’ Prologue For Mr. Sutherland: On his Benefit-Night, at the Theatre, Dumfries.
- Robert Burns: Sketch -New Year’s Day [1790]: To Mrs. Dunlop.
- Robert Burns: Prologue Spoken At The Theatre Of Dumfries: On New Year’s Day Evening, 1790.
- Robert Burns: Election Ballad For Westerha’:
- Robert Burns: The Five Carlins: An Election Ballad
- Robert Burns: Epistle To Dr. Blacklock: Ellisland, 21st Oct., 1789
- Robert Burns: To Mary In Heaven:
- Robert Burns: The Whistle -A Ballad:
- Robert Burns: My Heart’s In The Highlands:
- Robert Burns: The Captive Ribband:
- Robert Burns: A Waukrife Minnie:
- Robert Burns: Awa’ Whigs, Awa’:
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.