by Alden Nowlan
Down from the purple mist of trees on the mountain,
lurching through forests of white spruce and cedar,
stumbling through tamarack swamps,
came the bull moose
to be stopped at last by a pole-fenced pasture.
Too tired to turn or, perhaps, aware
there was no place left to go, he stood with the cattle.
They, scenting the musk of death, seeing his great head
like the ritual mask of a blood god, moved to the other end
of the field, and waited.
The neighbours heard of it, and by afternoon
cars lined the road. The children teased him
with alder switches and he gazed at them
like an old, tolerant collie. The woman asked
if he could have escaped from a Fair.
The oldest man in the parish remembered seeing
a gelded moose yoked with an ox for plowing.
The young men snickered and tried to pour beer
down his throat, while their girl friends took their pictures.
And the bull moose let them stroke his tick-ravaged flanks,
let them pry open his jaws with bottles, let a giggling girl
plant a little purple cap
of thistles on his head.
When the wardens came, everyone agreed it was a shame
to shoot anything so shaggy and cuddlesome.
He looked like the kind of pet
women put to bed with their sons.
So they held their fire. But just as the sun dropped in the river
the bull moose gathered his strength
like a scaffolded king, straightened and lifted his horns
so that even the wardens backed away as they raised their rifles.
When he roared, people ran to their cars. All the young men
leaned on their automobile horns as he toppled.

A few random poems:
- MOURNING by Satish Verma
- Sing of the Banner at Day-Break. by Walt Whitman
- Cascando by Samuel Beckett
- Inside/Outside The Window
- Immoral Laboratories
- A Carol by Rudyard Kipling
- said, unsaid by tulip
- But Outer Space by Robert Frost
- The Law of the Jungle by Rudyard Kipling
- Sonnet 109: O, never say that I was false of heart by William Shakespeare
- The Truce of the Bear by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Корнилов – Спасенье
- Two Quits And Drum And Elegy Drinkers
- The Reply Of Q. Horatius Flaccus To A Roman “Round-Robin” poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Попугая
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
- Олег Григорьев – Гений
- Олег Григорьев – Футбол
- Олег Григорьев – Если где-то кому-то плачется
- Олег Григорьев – Двустишия
- Олег Григорьев – Дружба
- Олег Григорьев – Драка
- Олег Григорьев – Дождь
- Олег Григорьев – Дети кидали друг в друга поленья
- Олег Григорьев – Дачник
- Олег Григорьев – Четверорукими ногами
- Олег Григорьев – Цель жизни
- Олег Григорьев – Был праздник с весельем и танцами
- Олег Григорьев – Благо
- Олег Григорьев – А меня уж везли зарывать
- Олег Чупров – Взлетев высоко и прекрасно
- Олег Чупров – Вечером поздним потянет к Печоре
- Олег Чупров – В лесу просторно, тихо, ясно
- Олег Чупров – Тают в сумраке лица
- Олег Чупров – Шаньги
- Олег Чупров – Путь к Благодати не напрасен
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