Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VULTURE by ALEXANDER (ALEKSANDR) ALEXANDROVICH BLOK

First Line: O'ER SLEEPY FIELDS A VULTURE BROODS
Last Line: FOR HOW LONG MUST THE VULTURE SWEEP?
O'ER sleepy fields a vulture broods,
In circle upon circle sweeping,
Watching the meadow solitudes.
A mother in her hut is weeping:
"Take bread, my son, take breast, and grow;
Obey, take up thy cross, and go."

Centuries pass. Loud blares the war,
Rebellion rising, hamlets burning, --
But thou, my country, as before,
Thy age-old beauty red with mourning!
For how long must the mother weep?
For how long must the vulture sweep?



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