by Alan J. Blaustein
Valhalla
by Alan J. Blaustein
High on West Street walking summer day
Sunlight in my face and to my right
Seeing more the Hudson than the street ahead.
I expected factories parking lots and bars,
Nothing else than pleasant afternoon
And then the wonder stopped me seized my sight.
Valhalla? Yes, it was!
Risen in all magnificence from the street
As proudly massive blocks of—stone.
It instantly awed me reduced me to a speck—
For what great purpose could this be?
Home for a breed of freshly risen gods?
I walked beside amazed and looking up
Until I came upon a massive porch
That stretched before great doors of glass and bronze,
Flanked by pillars, granite guards.
A plaque above the doors, all shining bronze,
Proclaimed the name.
Look what the age of heroes has become,
Look how Odin’s dream has re-emerged,
See how the ordinary conquers all,
How wonder can vanish like a wisp of smoke…
I saw for what my hall of gods was built—
Manhattan Community College!

A few random poems:
- For The Anniversary Of John Keats’ Death by Sara Teasdale
- Our Soul’s Gestation
- Ольга Берггольц – Вот я выбирала для разлуки
- August 1968 by W H Auden
- Низами Гянджеви – В ночи я знаю
- Love is a Tree by Rumi
- I waited by Raj Arumugam
- Light Or Sheäde by William Barnes
- Алишер Навои – Украсишь ты свой наряд красным
- Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth by William Shakespeare
- Омар Хайям – Куда уйти от пламенных страстей
- The Bull Moose
- Sonnet 88: When thou shalt be disposed to set me light by William Shakespeare
- Ballad on the American War by Robert Burns
- Владимир Маяковский – Плюшкин
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
- A Young Soul
- Winter039s Fall
- Tonic For Victory
- The Tiger039s Roar
- The New Path
- Rain Falls
- Peace Or Glory
- Have Lost You
- Further You Go Longer You Stay
- Frozen Heart 2
- Fears Get Away
- Dreamer
- Don039t Lose Hope
- Counting My Past
- A Friend Forever
- Your Dream
- When I Married Halld R Laxness
- What Peace Is Like
- Upside Down
- Unrequited Pathological
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