Snow Is Falling

Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)



Snow is falling: snow is falling.
Geranium flowers reach
for the blizzard’s small white stars
past the window’s edge.

Snow is falling, all is lost,
the whole world’s streaming past:
the flight of steps on the back stairs,
the corner where roads cross.

Snow is falling: snow is falling,
not snowflakes stealing down,
Sky parachutes to earth instead,
in his worn dressing gown.

As if he’s playing hide-and-seek,
across the upper landings,
a mad thing, slowly sneaks,
Sky creeps down from the attic.

It’s all because life won’t wait,
before you know, it’s Christmas here.
And look, in a minute,
suddenly it’s New Year.

Snow is falling, deeper – deeper.
Maybe, with that same stride
in that same tempo,
with that same languor,

Time’s going by?

Year after year, perhaps,
passing, as snow’s falling,
like words in a poem?
Snow’s falling: snow’s falling.
Snow is falling, all is lost –
the whitened passers-by,
leaves’ startled showing,
the corners where roads cross.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

48 sec read
161

Quick analysis:

Scheme Axxx Bxxc Adxd xxxx xexx xxxe f xaxaBfac
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 966
Words 163
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1, 8

Boris Pasternak

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator. more…

All Boris Pasternak poems | Boris Pasternak Books

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