A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
Far back when I went zig-zagging
through tamarack pastures
you were my genius, you
my cast-iron Viking, my helmed
lion-heart king in prison.
Years later now you’re young
my fierce half-brother, staring
down from that simplified west
your breast open, your belt dragged down
by an oldfashioned thing, a sword
the last bravado you won’t give over
though it weighs you down as you stride
and the stars in it are dim
and maybe have stopped burning.
But you burn, and I know it;
as I throw back my head to take you in
and old transfusion happens again:
divine astronomy is nothing to it.
Indoors I bruise and blunder
break faith, leave ill enough
alone, a dead child born in the dark.
Night cracks up over the chimney,
pieces of time, frozen geodes
come showering down in the grate.
A man reaches behind my eyes
and finds them empty
a woman’s head turns away
from my head in the mirror
children are dying my death
and eating crumbs of my life.
Pity is not your forte.
Calmly you ache up there
pinned aloft in your crow’s nest,
my speechless pirate!
You take it all for granted
and when I look you back
it’s with a starlike eye
shooting its cold and egotistical spear
where it can do least damage.
Breath deep! No hurt, no pardon
out here in the cold with you
you with your back to the wall.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Маяковский – Головотяпам
- “Here have I learnt the little that I know” poem – Alfred Austin
- Beyond the Moon by Vachel Lindsay
- Meaken Up A Miff by William Barnes
- Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? by William Shakespeare
- Владислав Крапивин – В южных морях и у севера дальнего
- Pamela Griffiths – Pamela Griffiths
- In Memoriam F.O.S. by Sara Teasdale
- Germs. by Walt Whitman
- The War Films by Sir Henry Newbolt
- REGENERATING by Satish Verma
- To The Honble Commodore Hood on His Pardoning a Deserter by Phillis Wheatley
- In Every Language by Rifat Ilgaz
- Before The Law by Michael Major
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On Wm. Hood, Senr., In Tarbolton:
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 Высоцкий – Расскажи, дорогой
- Владимир Высоцкий – Это вовсе не френч-канкан
- Владимир Высоцкий – Величальная отцу
- Владимир Высоцкий – Студенческая песня
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Вани перед студентами
- Владимир Высоцкий – Грустная песня о Ванечке
- Владимир Высоцкий – Свадебная
- Владимир Высоцкий – Солдат и привидение
- Владимир Высоцкий – Серенада Соловья-разбойника
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня солдата на часах
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Марии
- Владимир Высоцкий – Куплеты нечистой силы
- Владимир Высоцкий – Иван да Марья
- Владимир Высоцкий – Заключительная песня Кэрролла
- Владимир Высоцкий – Странные скачки
- Владимир Высоцкий – Шляпник
- Владимир Высоцкий – Про королевское шествие
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Попугая
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о планах
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Лягушонка
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.