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:
- Вера Павлова – Снег
- Robert Burns: Fickle Fortune: Fragment
- It’s No Use Raising A Shout by W H Auden
- Олег Бундур – Запахи дня
- Shadow Overhead by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Михаил Кузмин – В гроте Венерином мы горим
- Николай Тихонов – Гулливер играет в карты
- Song—O let me in this ae night by Robert Burns
- Blue-Eyed Ann by Tobias Smollett
- He is more than a hero by Sappho
- Валерий Брюсов – Голубое, голубое
- Sonet 55 by William Alexander
- Trench Duty by Siegfried Sassoon
- A Good Play by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Владимир Орлов – Добрый день
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
- Prisoner by Rabindranath Tagore
- Playthings by Rabindranath Tagore
- Patience by Rabindranath Tagore
- Passing Breeze by Rabindranath Tagore
- Parting Words by Rabindranath Tagore
- Paper Boats by Rabindranath Tagore
- Only Thee by Rabindranath Tagore
- On the Seashore by Rabindranath Tagore
- Old And New by Rabindranath Tagore
- Ocean of Forms by Rabindranath Tagore
- O Fool by Rabindranath Tagore
- My Song by Rabindranath Tagore
- My Friend by Rabindranath Tagore
- Moment’s Indulgence by Rabindranath Tagore
- Maya by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XXXIX: There Is a Looker-On by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XXVIII: I Dreamt by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XXII: I Shall Gladly Suffer by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XVIII: Your Days by Rabindranath Tagore
- Lover’s Gifts XVI: She Dwelt Here by the Pool by Rabindranath Tagore
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