The British
by A. S. J. Tessimond
We are a people living in shells and moving
Crablike; reticent, awkward, deeply suspicious;
Watching the world from a corner of half-closed eyelids,
Afraid lest someone show that he hates or loves us,
Afraid lest someone weep in the railway train.
We are coiled and clenched like a foetus clad in armour.
We hold our hearts for fear they fly like eagles.
We grasp our tongues for fear they cry like trumpets.
We listen to our own footsteps. We look both ways
Before we cross the silent empty road.
We are a people easily made uneasy,
Especially wary of praise, of passion, of scarlet
Cloaks, of gesturing hands, of the smiling stranger
In the alien hat who talks to all or the other
In the unfamiliar coat who talks to none.
We are afraid of too-cold thought or too-hot
Blood, of the opening of long-shut shafts or cupboards,
Of light in caves, of X-rays, probes, unclothing
Of emotion, intolerable revelation
Of lust in the light, of love in the palm of the hand.
We are afraid of, one day on a sunny morning,
Meeting ourselves or another without the usual
Outer sheath, the comfortable conversation,
And saying all, all, all we did not mean to,
All, all, all we did not know we meant.
A few random poems:
- The Secret Rose by William Butler Yeats
- Spring in Town by William Cullen Bryant
- Владимир Корнилов – Черный день
- The Battle of the Baltic by Thomas Campbell
- Такахама Кёси – Иокогама в утро моего возвращения из Франции
- A woman’s desire by Oriada Dajko
- The beauty of the heart by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- The Song of the Old Guard by Rudyard Kipling
- Broceliande
- Bivouac on a Mountain Side. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Маяковский – Ода революции
- Blank Dreams
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Тайна
- The People by William Butler Yeats
- The Bath-Tub poem – Ezra Pound 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
- Wake Not for the World-Heard Thunder poem – A. E. Housman
- Tis Time, I Think, By Wenlock Town poem – A. E. Housman
- Tis Time, I Think, By Wenlock Town poem – A. E. Housman
- Think No More, Lad poem – A. E. Housman
- Think No More, Lad poem – A. E. Housman
- There Pass the Careless People poem – A. E. Housman
- There Pass the Careless People poem – A. E. Housman
- The Winds Out of the West Land Blow poem – A. E. Housman
- The Winds Out of the West Land Blow poem – A. E. Housman
- The Welsh Marches poem – A. E. Housman
- The Welsh Marches poem – A. E. Housman
- The True Lover poem – A. E. Housman
- The Street Sounds to the Soldiers’ Tread poem – A. E. Housman
- The Stinging Nettle poem – A. E. Housman
- The Stinging Nettle poem – A. E. Housman
- The Recruit poem – A. E. Housman
- The Recruit poem – A. E. Housman
- The rainy Pleiads wester poem – A. E. Housman
- The rainy Pleiads wester poem – A. E. Housman
- The Merry Guide poem – A. E. Housman
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