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:
- Николай Заболоцкий – Ночное гулянье
- A Poetry Reading At West Point by William Matthews
- Юлия Друнина – Старая лента, обугленный лес
- Robert Burns: The Winter It Is Past:
- Robert Burns: Inscription: Written on the blank leaf of a copy of the last edition of my poems, presented to the Lady whom, in so many fictitious reveries of passion, but with the most ardent sentiments of real friendship, I have so often sung under the name of-“Chloris.”
- Sonnet 83: I never saw that you did painting need by William Shakespeare
- Ruined World by Michael Yuan
- Gleaners Of Fame poem – Alfred Austin
- The Four Winds poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- We put the urn aboard ship by Sappho
- The Bride-Cake by Robert Herrick
- The Pleasures Of Friendship by Stevie Smith
- The Incurious Bencher by William Somervile
- Ugliest Man In Town by Shel Silverstein
- Николай Языков – Песни (Счастлив, кому судьбою дан)
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
- The Country Of Marriage by Wendell Berry
- Testament by Wendell Berry
- Sabbaths 2001 by Wendell Berry
- Ripening by Wendell Berry
- A Warning To My Readers by Wendell Berry
- Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry
- Like The Water by Wendell Berry
- In this World by Wendell Berry
- In A Motel Parking Lot, Thinking Of Dr. Williams by Wendell Berry
- For The Future by Wendell Berry
- Do not be ashamed by Wendell Berry
- A Meeting by Wendell Berry
- 1991-II by Wendell Berry
- 1991-I by Wendell Berry
- A Terre (being the philosophy of many soldiers) by Wilfred Owen
- Disabled by Wilfred Owen
- Anthem For Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen
- Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
- Conscious by Wilfred Owen
- Insensibility by Wilfred Owen
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