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:
- To a Common Prostitute. by Walt Whitman
- In Salutation to the Eternal Peace by Sarojini Naidu
- Алексей Толстой – Ты не спрашивай, не распытывай
- Владимир Высоцкий – Шляпник
- Dawn God039s Sabbath
- Lover’s Gifts XVI: She Dwelt Here by the Pool by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Columbian Exchange Beginning With Spanish Colonization
- Arabia by Walter de la Mare
- Greece
- If by Rudyard Kipling
- Absence: A Farewell Ode On Quitting School For Jesus College by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Олег Григорьев – Вечером девочка Мила
- Низами Гянджеви – Семь красавиц
- Ahmad Al-Za’tar by Mahmoud Darwish
- Robert Burns: Grace After Meat:
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
- Олег Бундур – Интересный вопрос
- Олег Бундур – Играю в школьном спектакле
- Олег Бундур – Идем мы с дедом
- Олег Бундур – И до моря 15 шагов
- Олег Бундур – Гроза
- Олег Бундур – Глухарь
- Олег Бундур – Где живут мысли
- Олег Бундур – Февраль
- Олег Бундур – Если вы придёте в лес
- Олег Бундур – Если умываться лень
- Олег Бундур – Эпидемия
- Олег Бундур – Друзья
- Олег Бундур – Дрова
- Олег Бундур – Дождь
- Олег Бундур – Дома
- Олег Бундур – Добрый день
- Олег Бундур – Доброта
- Олег Бундур – Дневник
- Олег Бундур – Для чего бывает день
- Олег Бундур – Деревенская история
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