Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE TRANSLATION by MARK VAN DOREN

Poet Analysis

First Line: ANT AND SHREW / AND MARMOT, GOING
Last Line: AS I DIE.
Subject(s): MOWING & MOWERS; LAWN MOWERS;

ANT and shrew
And marmot, going
Safely there,
The time of mowing

Comes tomorrow.
Meadow lark
And banded snake,
Then the dark

Sky will fall --
What is green
Above you now
No more be seen.

What is single
Will divide.
And as you run
The other side

Of all the world
Will drop its blue
As if it looked
For none but you.

Toad and cricket,
Worm and mouse,
You will find
Another house

That not a hand
Was here to build.
My own sky
Has never spilled,

Right and left,
And shown a new one.
Night and day
Mine is the true one --

Would it were not,
And could lie
Thus to the sickle
As I die.



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