by Alissia Lyons
In white beds by white walls
a fresh candle flickers
as it rises and as it stalls
and the baby
turned to its side
a heart born on a sleeve
with no place to hide
and if there’s one thing
it doesn’t need
that’s another life to lead
no mother could simply walk by
for this was a child
with eyes of stone worn
against tides of change
and this child born to die
was never to wear away
and the mother transfixed
with white palms to clear glass
the baby lay still
fists clenched around thumbs
at peace, a mask already held well
yet surmass this small flame
that holds the one light
through falls
through triumphs
births, deaths
and endless lifetimes
the baby reaches to a mother
whose fingers already burn
a mind racing, thoughts chafing
for a detachment
she will never feel again
a new life consuming
old phases exhuming
stripping, ripping away every why
grieving it’s leaving
and in it’s blaze
a natal love, like that fire
lapping both their lives away
Copyright ©:
Alissia Lyons

A few random poems:
- Такахама Кёси – Кажется мне
- From My Diary, July 1914 by Wilfred Owen
- Алексей Толстой – Темнота и туман застилают мне путь
- Владимир Маяковский – Увеличивается ли питание Москвы… (Главполитпросвет №234)
- Love’s Divinest Power by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Minneapolipstick by Rachel McKibbens
- All is Truth. by Walt Whitman
- What Semiramis Said by Vachel Lindsay
- That Shadow, my Likeness. by Walt Whitman
- Debt by Sara Teasdale
- From: The Home We Will Never Live In That Place by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Ольга Берггольц – Не сына, не младшего брата
- Владимир Маяковский – Не только для того, чтоб тебя накормить… (Главполитпросвет №2)
- Robert Burns: O Bonie Was Yon Rosy Brier:
- Ballad about a stinking flower by Vinko Kalinic
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
- Ольга Берггольц – Я тайно и горько ревную
- Ольга Берггольц – Из блокнота сорок первого года
- Ольга Берггольц – Мы предчувствовали полыханье
- Ольга Берггольц – Я иду по местам боев
- Ольга Берггольц – Я говорю
- Ольга Берггольц – Второй разговор с соседкой
- Ольга Берггольц – Встреча
- Ольга Берггольц – Возвращение
- Ольга Берггольц – Вот я выбирала для разлуки
- Ольга Берггольц – Воспоминание (И вот в лицо пахнуло земляникой)
- Ольга Берггольц – В ложе Цимлянского моря
- Ольга Берггольц – В доме Павлова
- Ольга Берггольц – Украина
- Ольга Берггольц – Твоя молодость
- Ольга Берггольц – Триптих 1949 года
- Ольга Берггольц – Тост
- Ольга Берггольц – Таков мой подарок тебе за измену
- Ольга Берггольц – Так еще ни разу не забыла
- Ольга Берггольц – Стихи о ленинградских большевика
- Ольга Берггольц – Старая гвардия
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