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:
- All Kinds by William Wright Harris
- Christmas in India by Rudyard Kipling
- Robinson by Weldon Kees
- A Prayer For Old Age by William Butler Yeats
- The Happy Lunatic by William Somervile
- The Moon’s Minion poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Road-Song of the Bandar-Log by Rudyard Kipling
- Face Lift by Sylvia Plath
- Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись благоверному и Великому князю Александру Невскому
- Robert Burns: Here’s A Health To Them That’s Awa:
- Peace
- “Advance – Come Forth From Thy Tyrolean Ground” by William Wordsworth
- Mowing by Robert Frost
- Morning-Land by Siegfried Sassoon
- Foresight by William Wordsworth
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 Captain’s Lady:
- Robert Burns: Sweet Tibbie Dunbar:
- Robert Burns: I Love My Love In Secret:
- Robert Burns: Jamie, Come Try Me:
- Robert Burns: The Banks Of Nith:
- Robert Burns: Young Jockie Was The Blythest Lad:
- Robert Burns: On A Bank Of Flowers:
- Robert Burns: The Gard’ner Wi’ His Paidle:
- Robert Burns: Delia, An Ode : “To the Editor of The Star.-Mr. Printer-If the productions of a simple ploughman can merit a place in the same paper with Sylvester Otway, and the other favourites of the Muses who illuminate the Star with the lustre of genius, your insertion of the enclosed trifle will be succeeded by future communications from-Yours, &c., R. Burns. Ellisland, near Dumfries, 18th May, 1789.”
- Robert Burns: The Wounded Hare:
- Robert Burns: Sketch In Verse: Inscribed to the Right Hon. C. J. Fox.
- Robert Burns: A New Psalm For The Chapel Of Kilmarnock: On the Thanksgiving-Day for His Majesty’s Recovery.
- Robert Burns: Epistle To James Tennant Of Glenconner:
- Robert Burns: Ode On The Departed Regency Bill:
- Robert Burns: Beware O’ Bonie Ann:
- Robert Burns: To Miss Cruickshank, a very Young Lady : Written on the Blank Leaf of a Book, presented to her by the Author.
- Robert Burns: Caledonia -A Ballad :
- Robert Burns: Lines To John M’Murdo, Esq. Of Drumlanrig: Sent with some of the Author’s Poems.
- Robert Burns: Impromptu Lines To Captain Riddell: On Returning a Newspaper.
- Robert Burns: She’s Fair And Fause:
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.