Reality is a question
of realizing how real
the world is already.
Time is Eternity,
ultimate and immovable;
everyone’s an angel.
It’s Heaven’s mystery
of changing perfection :
absolute Eternity
changes! Cars are always
going down the street,
lamps go off and on.
It’s a great flat plain;
we can see everything
on top of a table.
Clams open on the table,
lambs are eaten by worms
on the plain. The motion
of change is beautiful,
as well as form called
in and out of being.
Next : to distinguish process
in its particularity with
an eye to the initiation
of gratifying new changes
desired in the real world.
Here we’re overwhelmed
with such unpleasant detail
we dream again of Heaven.
For the world is a mountain
of shit : if it’s going to
be moved at all, it’s got
to be taken by handfuls.
Man lives like the unhappy
whore on River Street who
in her Eternity gets only
a couple of bucks and a lot
of snide remarks in return
for seeking physical love
the best way she knows how,
never really heard of a glad
job or joyous marriage or
a difference in the heart :
or thinks it isn’t for her,
which is her worst misery.

A few random poems:
- He Hears The Cry Of The Sedge by William Butler Yeats
- Гавриил Державин – О удовольствии
- Алексей Толстой – Ушкуйник
- Владимир Вишневский – Мой брат на много лет вперёд
- Evening by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Life by Marvin Bell
- Year’s End by Marilyn Hacker
- Ольга Седакова – Легенда шестая
- Playthings by Rabindranath Tagore
- Николай Гумилев – Канцона вторая
- The Sanctuary by Sara Teasdale
- The Sun Of The First Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- Николай Карамзин – Эпитафия Джону Гею
- Ольга Берггольц – Анна Ахматова в 1941 году в Ленинграде
- The Answer by Sara Teasdale
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 house where I was born (10) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (09) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (08) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (07) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (06) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (05) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (04) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (03) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (02) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The house where I was born (01) by Yves Bonnefoy
- The Hawthorn Tree by Willa Cather
- Street In Packingtown by Willa Sibert Cather
- Spanish Johnny by Willa Sibert Cather
- Poppies on Ludlow Castle by Willa Cather
- Paradox by Willa Cather
- London Roses by Willa Cather
- Passer-By, These Are Words by Yves Bonnefoy
- Arcadian Winter by Willa Cather
- Once A Great Love by Yehuda Amichai
- On Rabbi Kook’s Street by Yehuda Amichai
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