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:
- Омар Хайям – Чистый дух, заключенный в нечистый сосуд
- Jewels Should Sparkle Daily by Ronald G. Auguste
- My Mouth Hovers Across Your Breasts
- Vegetable Swallow by Tristan Tzara
- A Superscription On Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, Sent For A Token by William Strode
- Cake by Roger McGough
- Can You See The Pride In The Panther? by Tupac Shakur
- What Being in Rank-Old Nature poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Female Author by Sylvia Plath
- Song by Robert Creeley
- Be Lost In The Call by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Sonnet 126: O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power by William Shakespeare
- Call To Account! by Vladimir Mayakovsky
- Niagara by Vachel Lindsay
- Владимир Высоцкий – Вы были у Беллы
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
- Path by Pierre Reverdy
- Pace of Life by Pierre Reverdy
- One More Awakening by Pawan Kumar
- Of You by Philo Ikonya
- O my faithful by Priyanka Tungana
- O Man by Pawan Kumar
- My Daughter by Preeth Nambiar
- Moonbeam flowers by Preeth Nambiar
- Miracles by Paul Hostovsky
- Mind Extempore by Pawan Kumar
- Lovers since Eternity by Preeth Nambiar
- Love Dale by Preeth Nambiar
- Loud Silence by Preethi Saravanakumar
- Life Passing by Pawan Kumar
- Letter to my father by Preeth Nambiar
- Let me Roam by Penny Leigh Moller
- Lamhe by Priyanka Tungana
- It is raining! by Preeth Nambiar
- It’s the Wrong Address by peggy boone
- Infinite Journey by Pawan Kumar
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