A poem by Alan Dugan
by Al Mutanabbi
Resolutions are measured against those who make them; generosity in accordance with the giver.
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Littleness is magnified by small men, while grandeur is deprecated by the great.
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Sayf al-Dawla imposes upon the army his will, yet seasoned armies cannot achieve it.
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He asks from men all that he has in himself, though even lions would not claim to match that.
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Dose al-Hadath know of its red color? Or which of the two pourers was a cloud?
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White-streaked clouds had watered al-Hadath before his arrival; when he approached, it was inundated with skulls.
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The enemy came at you, hauling their weapons as if they traveled on legless horses.
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When their ranks caught the light, their swords remained unseen, since their shirts and turbans were also made from steel.
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You stayed where you were, when doing so meant certain death: as if perdition itself slept while you stood in its eyelid.
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Wounded and fleeting, heroes passed you by, while your face remained bright and your lips, smiling.
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You surpassed the bounds of courage and understanding, until people claimed that you knew the unseen.
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To you belongs the praise for these pearls I pronounce; you are the giver, I the arranger.
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Oh, Sword never sheathed, whom none can doubt and from whom there is no refuge.
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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:
- Николай Языков – А. Н. Вульфу (Мой брат по вольности и хмелю)
- Some Clouds by Steve Kowit
- Camelot & The Greek Widow by Graham Rowlands
- Sonnet CLIII by William Shakespeare
- Telescope by Mark R Slaughter
- English Poetry. Richard Hovey. John Keats. Ричард Хави.
- Sonnet 140: Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press by William Shakespeare
- I am the earthworm, Lord of the Underworld by Raj Arumugam
- Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
- Новелла Матвеева – О юморе
- Advice to the Ladies by William Somervile
- The Grizzly Bear poem – A. E. Housman
- Sonnet CXIII by William Shakespeare
- Camps of Green. by Walt Whitman
- Федор Сологуб – Светлый пир
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
- Awed by her splendor by Sappho
- To Aphrodite by Sappho
- And their feet move by Sappho
- Anactoria by Sappho
- An Epithalamium by Sappho
- Although they are by Sappho
- In Adoration by Sappho
- A Lament For Adonis by Sappho
- A Hymn To Venus by Sappho
- Youth And The Pilgrim by Sara Teasdale
- Triolets by Sara Teasdale
- To L. R. E. by Sara Teasdale
- To A Picture Of Eleanor Duse by Sara Teasdale
- To A Castillan Song by Sara Teasdale
- Since There Is No Escape by Sara Teasdale
- The Wine by Sara Teasdale
- The Wind by Sara Teasdale
- The Wind In The Hemlock by Sara Teasdale
- The Wayfarer by Sara Teasdale
- The Wanderer by Sara Teasdale
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.