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Best Poems Written by Roman Tunkel

Below are the all-time best Roman Tunkel poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Leaves


Leaves, leaves, leaves...
Like thoughts, they fall with a twist.
And then, at the close of the day,
The night comes to sweep them away,
Wiping them clean with its broom –
To groom the Earth, to groom…

Rain, rain, rain...
It hammers its nails into brain,
The drops – they dance and they spring,
So, why does this image bring
The pang as I'm looking at it -
But let it, but let it, but let it...

Howling, howling, howling...
My soul is aching and moaning.
Not for the rainy sky,
But for the years passing by,
Washing the dreams away –
With gray, with gray, with gray...

The summer is sneaking out,
The fall's flying in on the cloud,
Embracing me in its cloak,
As feelings are running amok
And sound escapes on a wing –
And arms that wring, that wring...

April 1976

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013



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The Terror

The terror, murder of the “godless” 
To scare, to avenge, to plot,
And punish in the name of idols
Those who won't worship their God.

The terror, weapon of the villains,
The scum that Earth has left behind,
Fanatics, savages unreal,
Who follow tracks of evil guide.

Step on your bones for higher purpose,
All ready for self-sacrifice,
Incapable to grasp that pauper
In spirit – cripple cut to size.

And impotent of the creation –
No curiousity of mind
Their slogan, “kill civilization”
Is louder than build in kind…

Oblivious to victims, proffer
And happy taking lives away,
From all the "infidels", and offer,
"Our God is teaching us that way"…

Insane in their premonitions -
This world was made for those who live –
Regardless of the faith, tradition -
This life, the treasure we receive…

The terror, murder of the "godless"
To scare, to avenge, to plot,
And punish in the name of idols
Those who won't worship their God.

September 12, 2001

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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Be Damned


Be damned that very hour,
Be damned that very minute
When grieve like solemn tower
Had me engolfed within it.

When I felt numb and ill,
Incapable of sound,
And when the time stood still
To turn the years around.

And when the autumn leaf
Slid down like a tear
To weep that No you breathed,
Our hearts no longer near…

Be damned that very hour,
Be damned that very minute
When grieve like solemn tower
Had me engolfed within it.

1978

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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That Photograph No Longer Can Be Found

That photograph no longer can be found,
Where you and I are standing hugging tight,
Illuminating kindness from inside,
And warming up each other all around…

That photograph’s been lost so long ago,
The wind of life has scattered pieces of it,
And we, like particles of sand were blown over
To lands so far away in words and law…

That photograph no longer is with us,
But ashes of our days blow over, near,
With promises still whispered in my ear,
Refusing life to turn into the dust…  

That photograph no longer is with us.

1980

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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Almost Dusk


Almost dusk - half asleep, half a word in reply,
Someone under her breath utters almost a No,
Bodies close, with her arm half-way frozen in flight…
Yet, that damn half a feeling means "no place to go".

This is when for the feeling of fullness I yearn,
This is when I so dream of the Yen to my Yin…
And I slowly dive into darkness that burns,
And your Yes is exhaled on one breath, from within…

December 1976

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013



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My Love For You

My love for you just grows with time ,
Yesterday was penny - tomorrow dime.
I hope we know each other much better
I like the modern , you like the retro

I feel strong confidence that we overcome
Any problems... Who will stop us? - none
We will go through all the life's surprises ,
No matter what brings us future crisis.

Because the closeness , because our souls ,
Everything is natural , we don't playing this role.
And we will in safe - while I will care -
Saved by our love , which we indeed share...

2001

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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I Adore

I adore the ocean waves,
Sunrise in bonfires...
Only you, my dear friend 
Are my heart's desire.

Oh, I treasure blues of skies - 
Stardust blow around!
But one lash of your blue eyes –
Biggest treasure found.

Love the smiles of dear friends, 
Friendship shared in years.
Only you, my first sole mate,   
I would never share. 

How I yearn the Earth to live -
Ocean, mounts and shore -
So I'd be with you and give
Every day, much more!

1979

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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A Dream and Reality

A dream and reality live on this Earth,
They don’t get along very nice:
They pull us in opposite ways from the birth,
In lulls and in turmoil of life.

A dream is like bird wings that carry us up,
Like crushing of breakers on shore,
Reality – tiger that sneaks up to grab
And smear with a powerful paw.

A dream like a symbol of all of the hopes,
Embodies the future that comes,
Good karma that takes us through failure and loss,
Through storms to the clearest of skies.

Reality is like a sharpest of swards
That swings over heads with a swoosh,
And when we are most unaware, it falls
To slice our lives into mush.

A dream is what keeps up the family hearth,
What melts up the loneliness ice.
A dream and reality live on this Earth,
They don’t get along very nice.

1978

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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There Is No Goodness

There is no goodness in my nature,
It’s only sores, and rot, and mulch…
What was the goal of my creation?
Why in the hell it hurts so much?

It’s all defined from the beginning:
What is permissible, what’s not…
So, why are daily seconds streaming 
And wash away into the night?

Why try to reach in contradiction,
To suffer, learn, to water land,
To give away all this perfection
In final breath that comes to end?

From A to Z it’s predetermined,
From brightest climb – to bleakest fall:
First scream of baby in infirmary,
Last hissing sound of dying soul…


1979

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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I'Ll Agree To Be Anything

I’ll agree to be anything,
If you only remain around,
Even just as a dewy string, 
Underneath your feet on the ground…

I’ll be your ever pumping heartbeat,
Your invisible shadow unknown,
Or a weightless feathery wheat,
On the palm of your hand, forlorn…

I will serve as your whole universe,
If you burst as a star in it,
Or the downpouring rain they curse,
If you cast as a storm for a minute…

I’ll turn into whirling wind,
Just to carry your name around,
If you only have asked for it –
But you don’t, not a touch, not a sound…

Written by Roman Tunkel (rus), 1979
Translated by Yelena Tunkel, 2002

Copyright © Roman Tunkel | Year Posted 2013

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Book: Shattered Sighs