A poem by Alan Dugan
by Al Mutanabbi
Resolutions are measured against those who make them; generosity in accordance with the giver.
***
Littleness is magnified by small men, while grandeur is deprecated by the great.
***
Sayf al-Dawla imposes upon the army his will, yet seasoned armies cannot achieve it.
***
He asks from men all that he has in himself, though even lions would not claim to match that.
***
Dose al-Hadath know of its red color? Or which of the two pourers was a cloud?
***
White-streaked clouds had watered al-Hadath before his arrival; when he approached, it was inundated with skulls.
***
The enemy came at you, hauling their weapons as if they traveled on legless horses.
***
When their ranks caught the light, their swords remained unseen, since their shirts and turbans were also made from steel.
***
You stayed where you were, when doing so meant certain death: as if perdition itself slept while you stood in its eyelid.
***
Wounded and fleeting, heroes passed you by, while your face remained bright and your lips, smiling.
***
You surpassed the bounds of courage and understanding, until people claimed that you knew the unseen.
***
To you belongs the praise for these pearls I pronounce; you are the giver, I the arranger.
***
Oh, Sword never sheathed, whom none can doubt and from whom there is no refuge.
***
Blessed are warfare, glory and eminence; blessed are your subjects and all of Islam, for you are safe!
Copyright ©:
Translated by Nancy Coffin

A few random poems:
- Verse By Taj Mahomed
- Николай Языков – Баян к русскому воину
- Николай Некрасов – Влас
- Владимир Маяковский – Ты знаешь это вот… (Главполитпросвет №267)
- Олег Бундур – Чем пахнет мама
- An Hymn To The Evening by Phillis Wheatley
- Scotland by MB Moshe
- Владимир Маяковский – Счастье искусств
- The Mystic Isle by Rainbow Reed
- Characteristics Of A Child Three Years Old by William Wordsworth
- In Imitation of Dr. Swift : The Happy Life of a Country Parson poem – Alexander Pope
- From you have I been absent in the spring… (Sonnet 98) by William Shakespeare
- The Rwose In The Dark by William Barnes
- On A Battered Beauty (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- America by Walter William Safar
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
- Ten Years After by Graham Rowlands
- Telescopes In The Square by Graham Rowlands
- South Africa by Ronald G. Auguste
- Shattered Dreams. Broken Promises. by Russell James
- Savour Your Life by Ronald G. Auguste
- Rosslyn To The Prime Minister by Graham Rowlands
- Writing to Onegin by Ruth Padel
- Icicles round a Tree in Dumfriesshire by Ruth Padel
- Conqueror by Russell Hughes Ragsdale
- Conversation 4: On Place by Rosmarie Waldrop
- To A Young Lady. On Her Recovery From A Fever by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Written In Early Youth. The Time,–An Autumnal Evening by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Fire, Famine, And Slaughter : A War Eclogue by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Fancy In Nubibus, Or The Poet In The Clouds by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Epitaph On An Infant. by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- What would I do without this world by Samuel Beckett
- Cascando by Samuel Beckett
- To a Commencement of Scoundrels by Samuel Hazo
- The Nearness That Is All by Samuel Hazo
- The Middle of the World by Samuel Hazo
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
Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.