by Alden Nowlan
Down from the purple mist of trees on the mountain,
lurching through forests of white spruce and cedar,
stumbling through tamarack swamps,
came the bull moose
to be stopped at last by a pole-fenced pasture.
Too tired to turn or, perhaps, aware
there was no place left to go, he stood with the cattle.
They, scenting the musk of death, seeing his great head
like the ritual mask of a blood god, moved to the other end
of the field, and waited.
The neighbours heard of it, and by afternoon
cars lined the road. The children teased him
with alder switches and he gazed at them
like an old, tolerant collie. The woman asked
if he could have escaped from a Fair.
The oldest man in the parish remembered seeing
a gelded moose yoked with an ox for plowing.
The young men snickered and tried to pour beer
down his throat, while their girl friends took their pictures.
And the bull moose let them stroke his tick-ravaged flanks,
let them pry open his jaws with bottles, let a giggling girl
plant a little purple cap
of thistles on his head.
When the wardens came, everyone agreed it was a shame
to shoot anything so shaggy and cuddlesome.
He looked like the kind of pet
women put to bed with their sons.
So they held their fire. But just as the sun dropped in the river
the bull moose gathered his strength
like a scaffolded king, straightened and lifted his horns
so that even the wardens backed away as they raised their rifles.
When he roared, people ran to their cars. All the young men
leaned on their automobile horns as he toppled.
A few random poems:
- You Are One For Whom Ma Heart Really Cares by Miraj Patel
- Olney Hymn 24: Prayer For Children by William Cowper
- Огюст Барбье – Мельпомена
- Sonnet 110: Alas, ’tis true, I have gone here and there by William Shakespeare
- Erotic comics by Hanz Kovacq, porn comic books by known illustrators – continued
- Latino Author and Educator Provides Tools for College and Life Success
- Written for a Musician by Vachel Lindsay
- To L. R. E. by Sara Teasdale
- Battalion-Relief by Siegfried Sassoon
- Ольга Седакова – Сновидец
- National Trust by Tony Harrison
- Gloucester Moods by William Vaughn Moody
- Silent Steps by Rabindranath Tagore
- Adam’s Curse by William Butler Yeats
- Holiday & Travel Guide For Paphos, Cyprus
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
- Robert Burns: Come, Let Me Take Thee To My Breast:
- Robert Burns: Phillis The Queen O’ The Fair:
- Robert Burns: Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad:
- Robert Burns: By Allan Stream:
- Robert Burns: Had I A Cave:
- Robert Burns: Phillis The Fair:
- Robert Burns: Epigram On The Laird Of Laggan:
- Robert Burns: Epigrams Against The Earl Of Galloway:
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On A Lap-Dog Named Echo:
- Robert Burns: Bonie Jean-A Ballad:
- Robert Burns: O Were My Love Yon Lilac Fair:
- Robert Burns: Blythe Hae I been On Yon Hill:
- Robert Burns: Logan Braes:
- Robert Burns: The Last Time I Came O’er The Moor:
- Robert Burns: Impromptu On General Dumourier’s Desertion From The French Republican Army:
- Robert Burns: Grace Before And After Meat :
- Robert Burns: Grace After Meat:
- Robert Burns: Extempore Reply To An Invitation:
- Robert Burns: Kirk and State Excisemen:
- Robert Burns: The Raptures Of Folly:
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