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:
- A Good Knight In Prison by William Morris
- The Great Palaces Of Versailles by Rita Dove
- June poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Farewell
- The Terrible Abstractions by Vernon Scannell
- Владимир Высоцкий – Вы в огне да и в море вовеки не сыщете брода
- Robert Burns: Epistle From Esopus To Maria :
- In Memory of a Child by Vachel Lindsay
- Epigram on Andrew Turner by Robert Burns
- a maiden’s broken heart by Raj Arumugam
- Dedication To Leigh Hunt, Esq. poem – John Keats poems
- Шекспир – Что, если бы я право заслужил – Сонет 125
- Crazy Jane On God by William Butler Yeats
- absent-mindedness; or I Dream of Spices by Raj Arumugam
- Sleep Did Come Wi’ The Dew by William Barnes
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
- Readen Ov A Head-Stwone by William Barnes
- “The Girt Woak Tree That’s In the Dell” by William Barnes
- Praise O’ Do’set by William Barnes
- Polly Be-en Upzides Wi’ Tom by William Barnes
- Poll’s Jack-Daw by William Barnes
- A Pleäce In Zight by William Barnes
- Pentridge By The River by William Barnes
- Out At Plough by William Barnes
- Out A-Nuttèn by William Barnes
- Our Father’s Works by William Barnes
- Our Be’thplace by William Barnes
- Our Abode In Arby Wood by William Barnes
- Not Goo Hwome To-Night by William Barnes
- Night A-Zetten In by William Barnes
- Nanny’s New Abode by William Barnes
- Nanny’s Cow by William Barnes
- Naighbour Pla Meätes by William Barnes
- My Love’s Guardian Angel by William Barnes
- My Love Is Good by William Barnes
- Mornèn 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