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:
- Rain by Shel Silverstein
- A Forest Hymn by William Cullen Bryant
- Как хочу я в День влюбленных
- Colored Toys by Rabindranath Tagore
- For Life and Death of a Poet by Marcin Malek
- Наум Коржавин – Иван Калита
- lord_god_have_mercy_on_me.html
- In Honour Of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Алексей Толстой – Слова для мазурки
- Юрий Коринец – О стиральной машине
- Under The Blue Skies… poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Владимир Маяковский – О дряни
- The Dream poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Daffodil Dreams by Vaishnavi Prakash
- By The Camp Fire
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 – Марш студентов-физиков
- Владимир Высоцкий – Марш аквалангистов
- Владимир Высоцкий – Марине
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мао Цзедун большой шалун
- Владимир Высоцкий – Люблю тебя
- Владимир Высоцкий – Лукоморья больше нет
- Владимир Высоцкий – Лежит камень в степи
- Владимир Высоцкий – Ленинградская блокада
- Владимир Высоцкий – Купола
- Владимир Высоцкий – Куплеты Бенгальского
- Владимир Высоцкий – Кто за чем бежит
- Владимир Высоцкий – Красное, зелёное, жёлтое, лиловое
- Владимир Высоцкий – Космонавту Ю. Гагарину
- Владимир Высоцкий – Корабли постоят, и ложатся на курс
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка лягушонка Джимми и ящерки Билли
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мартовский Заяц
- Владимир Высоцкий – Королевский крокей
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Сашки Червня
- Владимир Высоцкий – Одесские куплеты
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка про прыгуна в длину
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