Valhalla

Valhalla

by Alan J. Blaustein

High on West Street walking summer day

Sunlight in my face and to my right

Seeing more the Hudson than the street ahead.

I expected factories parking lots and bars,

Nothing else than pleasant afternoon

And then the wonder stopped me seized my sight.

Valhalla? Yes, it was!

Risen in all magnificence from the street

As proudly massive blocks of—stone.

It instantly awed me reduced me to a speck—

For what great purpose could this be?

Home for a breed of freshly risen gods?

I walked beside amazed and looking up

Until I came upon a massive porch

That stretched before great doors of glass and bronze,

Flanked by pillars, granite guards.

A plaque above the doors, all shining bronze,

Proclaimed the name.

Look what the age of heroes has become,

Look how Odin’s dream has re-emerged,

See how the ordinary conquers all,

How wonder can vanish like a wisp of smoke…

I saw for what my hall of gods was built—

Manhattan Community College!

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Poems in English 

• To Gnedich poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• To The Don poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• To Natasha poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• To Lily poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• To… (Kern) poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• To Chadaev poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• Thou and You poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The wondrous moment of our meeting… poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Wish poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Water-Nymph poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Upas Tree poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Talisman poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Singer poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Prophet poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Night poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Name poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Flower poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Drowned Man poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Dream poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• The Vision poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин

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.

 

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