Swifts (2)
Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)
At twilight the swifts have no power,
to hold back that pale blue coolness.
It bursts from throats, a clamour
an outpour that can’t grow less.
The swifts have no way, high
up there, overhead, of restraining
their clarion cries: ‘O, triumph,
see, see, how the earth’s receding!’
Like steam from a boiling kettle,
the furious flow rushes by –
‘See, see – no space for the earth
between the ravine and the sky.’
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 23 sec read
- 315 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXAX BCXC XBXB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 421 |
Words | 78 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
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"Swifts (2)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/4544/swifts-(2)>.
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