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.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Lovesong by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Lineage by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• How To Paint A Water Lily by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• God’s Grandeur by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Full Moon and Little Frieda by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Examination at the Womb-Door by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Earth-Moon by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Crow’s Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Crow’s Fall by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• A Woman Unconscious by Ted Hughes by Ted Hughes
• Weak by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English
• The battle of fire by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English
• Taketh away by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English
• So tired by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English
• Silent consolation by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English
• Life a chess game by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English
• Life a battlefield by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English
• Late realizations by Tanisha Avarsekar by Poetry In English

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works