The British
by A. S. J. Tessimond
We are a people living in shells and moving
Crablike; reticent, awkward, deeply suspicious;
Watching the world from a corner of half-closed eyelids,
Afraid lest someone show that he hates or loves us,
Afraid lest someone weep in the railway train.
We are coiled and clenched like a foetus clad in armour.
We hold our hearts for fear they fly like eagles.
We grasp our tongues for fear they cry like trumpets.
We listen to our own footsteps. We look both ways
Before we cross the silent empty road.
We are a people easily made uneasy,
Especially wary of praise, of passion, of scarlet
Cloaks, of gesturing hands, of the smiling stranger
In the alien hat who talks to all or the other
In the unfamiliar coat who talks to none.
We are afraid of too-cold thought or too-hot
Blood, of the opening of long-shut shafts or cupboards,
Of light in caves, of X-rays, probes, unclothing
Of emotion, intolerable revelation
Of lust in the light, of love in the palm of the hand.
We are afraid of, one day on a sunny morning,
Meeting ourselves or another without the usual
Outer sheath, the comfortable conversation,
And saying all, all, all we did not mean to,
All, all, all we did not know we meant.

A few random poems:
- victor.html
- Олег Григорьев – На заборе валенки
- O Star of France. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Степанов – Осы
- You’re The Only One poem – Ygor Noblott poems | Poetry Monster
- I am Ireland by Patrick Pearse
- Memory
- Intorduction to the Songs of Experience by William Blake
- Set me FREE by Neelam Sinha
- Алексей Жемчужников – Забудь их шумное волненье
- Robert Burns: Theniel Menzies’ Bonie Mary:
- Fable Of The Rhododendron Stealers by Sylvia Plath
- A Winter Evening poem – Alexander Pushkin
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: Is it, then, regret for buried time poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Loud Silence by Preethi Saravanakumar
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: A Stanza Added In A Mason Lodge:
- Robert Burns: No Churchman Am I:
- Robert Burns: I’ll Go And Be A Sodger:
- Robert Burns: Raging Fortune:
- Robert Burns: Fickle Fortune: Fragment
- Robert Burns: Stanzas On The Same Occasion [Prospect of Death]:
- Robert Burns Country: O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day:
- Robert Burns: In The Prospect Of Death:
- Robert Burns: First Six Verses Of The Ninetieth Psalm Versified, The :
- Robert Burns: Paraphrase Of The First Psalm:
- Robert Burns: Under The Pressure Of Violent Anguish:
- Robert Burns: Winter: A Dirge:
- Robert Burns: Mary Morison:
- Robert Burns: Bonie Peggy Alison:
- Robert Burns: Lass Of Cessnock Banks, The:
- Robert Burns: Here’s To Thy Health:
- Robert Burns Country: Ronalds Of The Bennals, The:
- Robert Burns: Handsome Nell:
- Erotic comics by Hanz Kovacq, porn comic books by known illustrators – continued
- Hitler, a poem about Hitler
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