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:
- Владимир Маяковский – Что делать?.. (РОСТА №193)
- The India Wharf by Sara Teasdale
- Roads poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Innocence
- Memory by Siegfried Sassoon
- Translations Dante Inferno Canto Xxvi
- Snowfall by Steve Troyanovich
- Doomes-Day: The Second Houre by William Alexander
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Переход
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Памяти Скрябина
- Anticipation, October 1803 by William Wordsworth
- The Battle of the Baltic by Thomas Campbell
- Николай Гумилев – Лесной пожар
- An Oath poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Вера Звягинцева – Не пастушка и не Психея
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
- Paris In Spring by Sara Teasdale
- Over The Roofs by Sara Teasdale
- Only In Sleep by Sara Teasdale
- On The Dunes by Sara Teasdale
- On The Death Of Swinburne by Sara Teasdale
- Oh Day Of Fire And Sun by Sara Teasdale
- Night Song At Amalfi by Sara Teasdale
- Night In Arizona by Sara Teasdale
- New Year’s Dawn – Broadway by Sara Teasdale
- Madeira From The Sea by Sara Teasdale
- Love In Autumn by Sara Teasdale
- Less Than The Cloud To The Wind by Sara Teasdale
- Interlude: Songs Out Of Sorrow by Sara Teasdale
- In The Train by Sara Teasdale
- In The Metropolitan Museum by Sara Teasdale
- In The End by Sara Teasdale
- Night Song At Amalfi by Sara Teasdale
- In the Carpenter’s Shop by Sara Teasdale
- Night In Arizona by Sara Teasdale
- In Spring, Santa Barbara by Sara Teasdale
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