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:
- Sonnet 103: Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth by William Shakespeare
- The most noble bird, wife by Mukeshkumar Raval
- The Secrets Of Divine Love Are To Be Kept by William Cowper
- Юрий Коринец – Кто очень болен
- Sonnet 61: Is it thy will thy image should keep open by William Shakespeare
- The Paper Windmill poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ribbons & Pearls by Timothy Cole
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка для шахтера-друга про шахтерки, чуни и каменный уголь
- Heaven–Haven: A Nun Takes The Veil poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Solomon And The Witch by William Butler Yeats
- His Last Request to Julia by Robert Herrick
- Rusty Folks by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Stanzas poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Shot? So Quick, So Clean an Ending? poem – A. E. Housman
- Art Therapy and Loss
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
- Михаил Кузмин – Живется нам не плохо
- Михаил Кузмин – Зеленая птичка
- Михаил Кузмин – Запел петух, таинственный предвестник
- Михаил Кузмин – Заключение (Водительница Одигитрия)
- Михаил Кузмин – Зачем в тот вечер роковой
- Михаил Кузмин – Зачем копье Архистратига
- Михаил Кузмин – Я знаю вас не понаслышке
- Михаил Кузмин – Выздоравливающей
- Михаил Кузмин – Вы молчаливо-нежное дитя
- Михаил Кузмин – Вы белое бургундское вино
- Михаил Кузмин – Второй свидетель
- Михаил Кузмин – Все дни у Бога хороши
- Михаил Кузмин – Врезанные в песок заливы
- Михаил Кузмин – Врач мудрый нам открыл секрет природы
- Михаил Кузмин – Возвращение
- Михаил Кузмин – Возможно ль: скоро четверть века
- Михаил Кузмин – Вот после ржавых львов и рева
- Михаил Кузмин – В саду
- Михаил Кузмин – В раскосый блеск зеркал забросив сети
- Михаил Кузмин – В ранний утра час покидал Милет я
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