A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
I know you are reading this poem
late, before leaving your office
of the one intense yellow lamp-spot and the darkening window
in the lassitude of a building faded to quiet
long after rush-hour. I know you are reading this poem
standing up in a bookstore far from the ocean
on a grey day of early spring, faint flakes driven
across the plains’ enormous spaces around you.
I know you are reading this poem
in a room where too much has happened for you to bear
where the bedclothes lie in stagnant coils on the bed
and the open valise speaks of flight
but you cannot leave yet. I know you are reading this poem
as the underground train loses momentum and before running
up the stairs
toward a new kind of love
your life has never allowed.
I know you are reading this poem by the light
of the television screen where soundless images jerk and slide
while you wait for the newscast from the intifada.
I know you are reading this poem in a waiting-room
of eyes met and unmeeting, of identity with strangers.
I know you are reading this poem by fluorescent light
in the boredom and fatigue of the young who are counted out,
count themselves out, at too early an age. I know
you are reading this poem through your failing sight, the thick
lens enlarging these letters beyond all meaning yet you read on
because even the alphabet is precious.
I know you are reading this poem as you pace beside the stove
warming milk, a crying child on your shoulder, a book in your
hand
because life is short and you too are thirsty.
I know you are reading this poem which is not in your language
guessing at some words while others keep you reading
and I want to know which words they are.
I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn
between bitterness and hope
turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse.
I know you are reading this poem because there is nothing else
left to read
there where you have landed, stripped as you are.
A few random poems:
- Федор Сологуб – Когда я в бурном море плавал
- The Fairies’ Siege by Rudyard Kipling
- Низами Гянджеви – Увы, на этой лужайке, где согнут страстью я,
- Олег Бундур – В гостях на великом
- Нина Пикулева – Ой, да чья ж это девчушка
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 44. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- A Farewell poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Wraiths by Siegfried Sassoon
- Hora Stellatrix poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Высоцкий – Я верю в нашу общую звезду
- Валерий Брюсов – Из Александрийской антологии. К Сапфо
- City of My Childhood
- Allegiances by William Stafford
- Grace before and after Meat by Robert Burns
- All Saints Day 1867
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
- First Anniversary poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Eyes And Tears poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Epigramma in Duos montes Amosclivum Et Bilboreum poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Dignissimo Suo Amico Doctori Wittie. De Translatione Vulgi poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Edmundi Trotii Epitaphium poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Daphnis And Chloe poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Damon The Mower poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Cromwell’s Return poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Clorinda And Damon poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Bermudas poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Blake’s Victory poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- An Epitaph poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Ametas And Thestylis Making Hay-Ropes poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Aliter poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- A Poem Upon The Death Of O.C. poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- A Letter To Doctor Ingelo, then With My Lord Whitlock, Amba poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- A Garden, Written after the Civil Wars poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- A Dialogue Between Thyrsis And Dorinda poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- A Dialogue Between The Soul And Body poem – Andrew Marvell poems
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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.