Deliver



Between the hours of five and seven,
A mezzotint of sky makes green
The dipping boughs of a catalpa tree.

And when the neighbor clicks on night,
Yellow switches to yellow by the light
Of a fading blue outside.

Between the hours of five and seven.
Too many halfway hours
That make the birds croon.

One life becomes so contingent
On another, you'd think it didn't know
Any other way to be itself.

As when I hold out my palms
Because there are flocks that come to pass
Upon the one that counts them,

I need the birds to come. I need
To know what to do with my hands.

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Submitted on May 01, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
0

Quick analysis:

Scheme Axx bbx Axx xxx xxx xx
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 547
Words 110
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2

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    "Deliver" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/69304/deliver>.

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