The Children Look At The Parents
by A. S. J. Tessimond
We being so hidden from those who
Have quietly borne and fed us,
How can we answer civilly
Their innocent invitations?
How can we say “we see you
As but-for-God’s-grace-ourselves, as
Our caricatures (we yours), with
Time’s telescope between us”?
How can we say “you presumed on
The accident of kinship,
Assumed our friendship coatlike,
Not as a badge one fights for”?
How say “and you remembered
The sins of our outlived selves and
Your own forgiveness, buried
The hatchet to slow music;
Shared money but not your secrets;
Will leave as your final legacy
A box double-locked by the spider
Packed with your unsolved problems”?
How say all this without capitals,
Italics, anger or pathos,
To those who have seen from the womb come
Enemies? How not say it?

A few random poems:
- Алексей Толстой – Уж ласточки, кружась, над крышей щебетали
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Home. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- Aunt Jennifer039s Tigers
- Эмиль Верхарн – Холод
- Иннокентий Анненский – Любовь к прошлому
- all-days-seem-same.html
- Владимир Маяковский – Пахали сохой — запашем трактором (Главполитпросвет №42)
- Омар Хайям – Чье сердце не горит любовью страстной к милой
- Robert Burns: Death and Doctor Hornbook : A True Story
- Sonnet CXXIX by William Shakespeare
- Meary-Ann’s Child by William Barnes
- Alicante Lullaby by Sylvia Plath
- Again
- Владимир Британишский – Крылов и тверяки
- In A Railroad Station by Sara Teasdale
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
- Snapshots Of A Daughter In Law
- Shattered Head
- Rural Reflections
- Prospective Immigrants Please Note
- Power
- Planetarium
- Paula Becker To Clara Westhoff
- Our Whole Life
- Orion
- On Edges
- November 1968
- My Mouth Hovers Across Your Breasts
- Moving In Winter
- Miracle Ice Cream
- Living In Sin
- Integrity
- In Those Years
- In The Evening
- In A Classroom
- Implosions
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