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.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random 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 

• Spenserian Stanzas On Charles Armitage Brown poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Spenserian Stanza. Written At The Close Of Canto II, Book V, Of “The Faerie Queene” poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Specimen Of An Induction To A Poem poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet XVII. Happy Is England poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet XVI. To Kosciusko poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet XV. On The Grasshopper And Cricket poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet XIV. Addressed To The Same (Haydon) poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet X. To One Who Has Been Long In City Pent poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet XIII. Addressed To Haydon poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet XII. On Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet XI. On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. Written Upon The Top Of Ben Nevis poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. Written On A Blank Space At The End Of Chaucer’s Tale Of ‘The Floure And The Lefe’ poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. Written On A Blank Page In Shakespeare’s Poems, Facing ‘A Lover’s Complaint’ poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. Written In Disgust Of Vulgar Superstition poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. Written In Answer To A Sonnet By J. H. Reynolds poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. Written Before Re-Read King Lear poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet. Why Did I Laugh Tonight? poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet: When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be poem – John Keats poems by John Keats
• Sonnet VIII. To My Brothers poem – John Keats poems by John Keats

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works