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:
- Stir in Stillness by Shruti Talnikar
- Kalli
- Me Imperturbe. by Walt Whitman
- Bringen Woone Gwaïn O’ Zundays by William Barnes
- Ольга Берггольц – Новогодний тост
- Lucid Dreams by Talha Jafri
- Низами Гянджеви – Газелеокая
- In Imitation of Chaucer poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Омар Хайям – Не для веселости я пью вино
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Напоминание
- Private Property poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Untitled by Quincy Troupe
- Нина Воронель – Аэродром
- Butterflies by Rudyard Kipling
- Flying Wishes by Osman cisse Hanif
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
- The Carter by William Barnes
- The Bwoat by William Barnes
- The Brook That Ran By Gramfer’s by William Barnes
- The Bells Ov Alderburnham by William Barnes
- The Bean Vield by William Barnes
- The Beam In Grenley Church by William Barnes
- The Beäten Path by William Barnes
- The Bachelor by William Barnes
- Thatchen O’ The Rick by William Barnes
- Teaken In Apples by William Barnes
- Sweet Music In The Wind by William Barnes
- Sound O’ Water by William Barnes
- A Snowy Night by William Barnes
- Slow To Come, Quick Agone by William Barnes
- Sleep Did Come Wi’ The Dew by William Barnes
- Shrodon Feäir by William Barnes
- Shaftesbury Feäir by William Barnes
- Ruth A-Ridèn by William Barnes
- Rivers Don’t Gi’e Out by William Barnes
- Riden Hwome At Night by William Barnes
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