Tiger

At noon thepaper tigers roar

— Miroslav Holub

The paper tigers roar at noon;

The sun is hot, the sun is high.

They roar in chorus, not in tune,

Their plaintive, savage hunting cry.

O, when you hear them, stop your ears

And clench your lids and bite your tongue.

The harmless paper tiger bears

Strong fascination for the young.

His forest is the busy street;

His dens the forum and the mart;

He drinks no blood, he tastes no meat:

He riddles and corrupts the heart.

But when the dusk begins to creep

From tree to tree, from door to door,

The jungle tiger wakes from sleep

And utters his authentic roar.

It bursts the night and shakes the stars

Till one breaks blazing from the sky;

Then listen! If to meet it soars

Your heart’s reverberating cry,

My child, then put aside your fear:

Unbar the door and walk outside!

The real tiger waits you there;

His golden eyes shall be your guide.

And, should he spare you in his wrath,

The world and all the worlds are yours;

And should he leap thejungle path

And clasp you with his bloody jaws,

Then say, as his divine embrace

Destroys the mortal parts of you:

I too am of that royal race

Who do what we are born to do.

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 

• France, the 18th year of These States. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• For Him I Sing. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Fast Anchor’d, Eternal, O Love. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Facing West from California’s Shores. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Faces. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Excelsior. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Europe, the 72d and 73d years of These States. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Ethiopia Saluting the Colors. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Elemental Drifts. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Eidólons. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Earth! my Likeness! by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Drum-Taps. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Dresser, The. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Dirge for Two Veterans. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Despairing Cries. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Delicate Cluster. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Debris. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Darest Thou Now, O Soul. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Dalliance of the Eagles, The. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Crossing Brooklyn Ferry. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman

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