The Bull Moose

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.

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 

• A PANEGYRIC TO SIR LEWIS PEMBERTON by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A New Year’s Gift, Sent To Sir Simeon Steward by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A MEDITATION FOR HIS MISTRESS by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A MEAN IN OUR MEANS by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A Lyric to Mirth by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A HYMN TO VENUS AND CUPID by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A HYMN TO THE GRACES by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A Hymn to Love by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A HYMN TO BACCHUS by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A Dialogue Betwixt Himself and Mistress Eliza Wheeler, under the Name of Amarillis by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A COUNTRY LIFE:TO HIS BROTHER, MR THOMAS HERRICK by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A Conjuration To Electra by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A Child’s Grace by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A CANTICLE TO APOLLO by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• A Bucolic Betwixt Two; Lacon and Thyrsis by Robert Herrick by Robert Herrick
• Under Cover of Night by Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos
• The Voice of Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos
• The Ring of Stars by Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos
• Sleep Spaces by Robert Desnos by Robert Desnos

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