by Agha Shahid Ali
What will suffice for a true-love knot? Even the rain?
But he has bought grief’s lottery, bought even the rain.
“our glosses / wanting in this world” “Can you remember?”
Anyone! “when we thought / the poets taught” even the rain?
After we died–That was it!–God left us in the dark.
And as we forgot the dark, we forgot even the rain.
Drought was over. Where was I? Drinks were on the house.
For mixers, my love, you’d poured–what?–even the rain.
Of this pear-shaped orange’s perfumed twist, I will say:
Extract Vermouth from the bergamot, even the rain.
How did the Enemy love you–with earth? air? and fire?
He held just one thing back till he got even: the rain.
This is God’s site for a new house of executions?
You swear by the Bible, Despot, even the rain?
After the bones–those flowers–this was found in the urn:
The lost river, ashes from the ghat, even the rain.
What was I to prophesy if not the end of the world?
A salt pillar for the lonely lot, even the rain.
How the air raged, desperate, streaming the earth with flames–
to help burn down my house, Fire sought even the rain.
He would raze the mountains, he would level the waves,
he would, to smooth his epic plot, even the rain.
New York belongs at daybreak to only me, just me–
to make this claim Memory’s brought even the rain.
They’ve found the knife that killed you, but whose prints are these?
No one has such small hands, Shahid, not even the rain.
Call Me Ishmael Tonight
Copyright ©:
Agha Shahid Ali Literary Trust
A few random poems:
- A Humble Heroine by William Topaz McGonagall
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 66. Томас Мур.
- Clouds Above The Sea by Philip Levine
- A Single Man
- Old Man poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Mother, I cannot mind my Wheel by Walter Savage Landor
- Poppies In July by Sylvia Plath
- The Bridge of Sighs by Thomas Hood
- The Duel poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Patience poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nos Immortales by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Hora Stellatrix poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Такахама Кёси – Иокогама в утро моего возвращения из Франции
- Николай Карамзин – Пророчество на 1799 год, найденное в бумагах Нострадамуса
- Ballade Of Cleopatra’s Needle poem – Andrew Lang poems
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
- Владимир Маяковский – Гимн взятке
- Владимир Маяковский – Гимн судье
- Владимир Маяковский – Гимн обеду
- Владимир Маяковский – Гевлок Вильсон
- Владимир Маяковский – Если белогвардейщину не добьем совсем… (РОСТА №148)
- Владимир Маяковский – Еще Петербург
- Владимир Маяковский – Электричество – вид энергии
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, уралец! Без помощи твоего рудника не победить разруху никак (Агитплакаты)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, товарищи, за труд!.. (Главполитпросвет №146)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, товарищи! От сбора продналога… (Главполитпросвет №284)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, товарищ! Поищи дома (Главполитпросвет №95)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, товарищ! Если ты пришел на Сухаревку… (РОСТА №262)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, шахтер! В опасности трудовая республика твоя! (Агитплакаты)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, онанисты, кричите «Ура!»
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй! крестьянин, помни ты… (Главполитпросвет №43)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, граждане, берегите воду!.. (Главполитпросвет №249)
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй
- Владимир Маяковский – Дядя ЭМЭСПЭО
- Владимир Маяковский – Две культуры
- Владимир Маяковский – Два опиума
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