I would like to swim in the Atlantic,
to swim with someone who understood
why my fear of drowning plays less dire
than my fear of bones, walking the ocean floor.
I would like to sync my stroke with a beloved.
I’d like to stand on deck on a boat
and jump in the sea and say, follow me,
and know you would. The sea is cold
and it’s deep, too, I’d joke,
standing at the edge of the boat’s bow.
A wind breathes across the sea,
joining gently the edges of time.
With a dog paddling behind me,
I want to crawl across the water
without thinking about a future.
I have set my eyes upon the shore
and I hold you there—steady, in focus—
but let you go when, from below,
a voice breaks to the surface.
A few random poems:
- Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar by T. S. Eliot
- Михаил Лермонтов – Благодарность
- O Fool by Rabindranath Tagore
- Is Life Worth Living? poem – Alfred Austin
- Psalm 86 poem – John Milton poems
- Владимир Орлов – Добрый день
- Hyla Brook by Robert Frost
- You Ask Me, Why, Tho’ Ill at Ease poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Владимир Маяковский – Столп
- My Butterfly by Robert Frost
- Николай Глазков – Была зима
- An Epitaph 2 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Владимир Маяковский – Товарищу Нетте, пароходу и человеку
- Her Anxiety by William Butler Yeats
- Autumn by Stevie Smith
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
- Robert Burns: The Captain’s Lady:
- Robert Burns: Sweet Tibbie Dunbar:
- Robert Burns: I Love My Love In Secret:
- Robert Burns: Jamie, Come Try Me:
- Robert Burns: The Banks Of Nith:
- Robert Burns: Young Jockie Was The Blythest Lad:
- Robert Burns: On A Bank Of Flowers:
- Robert Burns: The Gard’ner Wi’ His Paidle:
- Robert Burns: Delia, An Ode : “To the Editor of The Star.-Mr. Printer-If the productions of a simple ploughman can merit a place in the same paper with Sylvester Otway, and the other favourites of the Muses who illuminate the Star with the lustre of genius, your insertion of the enclosed trifle will be succeeded by future communications from-Yours, &c., R. Burns. Ellisland, near Dumfries, 18th May, 1789.”
- Robert Burns: The Wounded Hare:
- Robert Burns: Sketch In Verse: Inscribed to the Right Hon. C. J. Fox.
- Robert Burns: A New Psalm For The Chapel Of Kilmarnock: On the Thanksgiving-Day for His Majesty’s Recovery.
- Robert Burns: Epistle To James Tennant Of Glenconner:
- Robert Burns: Ode On The Departed Regency Bill:
- Robert Burns: Beware O’ Bonie Ann:
- Robert Burns: To Miss Cruickshank, a very Young Lady : Written on the Blank Leaf of a Book, presented to her by the Author.
- Robert Burns: Caledonia -A Ballad :
- Robert Burns: Lines To John M’Murdo, Esq. Of Drumlanrig: Sent with some of the Author’s Poems.
- Robert Burns: Impromptu Lines To Captain Riddell: On Returning a Newspaper.
- Robert Burns: She’s Fair And Fause:
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

A. Van Jordan, born 1965 in Akron, Ohio, USA, is a contemporary American poet and the author of four important collections: Rise, which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award (Tia Chucha Press, 2001); M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, (2005), which was listed as one the Best Books of 2005 by the London Times; Quantum Lyrics, (W.W. Norton, 2007); and The Cineaste (W.W. Norton,, 2013). Jordan has been awarded a Whiting Writers Award, an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and a Pushcart Prize.