Poems about Poetry
Tracks in the Private Country
by T. Wignesan
The memory in need
Is the implacable enemy of the creed,
Waits and watches its foe
The all-clawing frenzy on tip-toe;
Quiescent in the instant’s repose
The thud of flurried gnawing years evoke.
The poet in his solitary moments, spoke
Those whispered words, memory’s secret ear yoke.
His wares, his scares, ailments and balms
Suddenly at the oasis of his thirst, awoke
Transilluminating the hard wad of his private notes,
Clutching at the infant’s murmurous innocence
The clear innocuous dogma of cries;
While his immodestly preened notes of travesty
Hark back; and the first poem playfully struck
Teaches him now too late the laugh, the critic’s qualms.
Just as the poet had wandered away from childhood,
So will the child thwart the unspoilt man
And shyly, shyly he turns away from the poet
Coming in like a stray camp-follower to brood.
For who may ask which the supreme poet
The child’s sweet ineffable musings disrespect
While language etherises meanings proudly sown:
The title in two is halved – one the art, one, lone.
And the man, memory’s ill-begotten infant
Lurking round the corner, pranks the urgent moment
Or two – then restores the poet to the poem.
T. Wignesan
Copyright ©:
T. Wignesan, 1957 – First pub. in “Discus”, University of Frankfurt, 1960 (from the collection: Tracks of a Tramp. Kuala Lumpur-Singapore: 1961)

A few random poems:
- Mauve Mittens by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Love’s Paradox by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Décembre austral by Patryck Froissart
- Son Of A Scoundrel by Shel Silverstein
- Иван Бунин – Никогда вы не воскреснете, не встанете
- A Child Of God Longing To See Him Beloved by William Cowper
- Song—Blythe hae I been on yon hill by Robert Burns
- A Walk by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Point Of View by Shel Silverstein
- Screens (In a Hospital) by Winifred Mary Letts
- A Dream Of Death by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Собачий пир
- Danse Russe by William Carlos Williams
- The Perfect Marriage by Vachel Lindsay
- Иида Дакоцу – Синтоистское святилище у подножия горы в Одани
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
- Of Three Or Four In The Room by Yehuda Amichai
- Near The Wall Of A House by Yehuda Amichai
- My Father by Yehuda Amichai
- My Child Wafts Peace by Yehuda Amichai
- Memorial Day For The War Dead by Yehuda Amichai
- Love Of Jerusalem by Yehuda Amichai
- Jerusalem by Yehuda Amichai
- If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem by Yehuda Amichai
- I Want To Die In My Own Bed by Yehuda Amichai
- I Know A Man by Yehuda Amichai
- I Have Become Very Hairy by Yehuda Amichai
- I Don’t Know If History Repeats Itself by Yehuda Amichai
- Half The People In The World by Yehuda Amichai
- God Has Pity On Kindergarten Children by Yehuda Amichai
- God Full Of Mercy by Yehuda Amichai
- Forgetting Someone by Yehuda Amichai
- Ein Yahav by Yehuda Amichai
- Do Not Accept by Yehuda Amichai
- Before by Yehuda Amichai
- And We Shall Not Get Excited by Yehuda Amichai
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