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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: MONTALE, EUGENIO Matches Found: 570 Montale, Eugenio Poet's Biography 570 poems available by this author ... WELL LET IT BE. SOUNDS OF A CORNET Last Line: And this life which seemed so vast %can be spread out on your handkerchief ...SO BE IT. BLARE OF A CORNET Last Line: Immense, is smaller than your handkerchief ABOVE THE GRAFFITI-COVERED WALL Last Line: Ride at anchor like boats in the bay ABOVE THE SCRIBBLED WALL Last Line: The mornings are moored like boats AFTER A FLIGHT First Line: Behind a screen of silver birch Last Line: We defy silence, words are always there AFTER A FLIGHT First Line: There were birches, thick, to hide Last Line: You've provided me with the stimulus I needed, %& that everything else (providing it's not silence) AGAIN AND AGAIN I HAVE SEEN LIFE'S EVIL Poem Text Subject(s): Evil AGAIN THE CANEBRAKE POKES ITS SPEARS Last Line: From its course, plunges, vanishes in haze AGAVE ON THE REEF First Line: Rabid sirocco %gale that burns Last Line: My rootedness as torment ALL SOULS' DAY Poem Text First Line: Gina has lighted a large candle for her dead Subject(s): All Souls' Day ALL SOULS' DAY First Line: Gina's lit candle for her dead. She lit it Last Line: Include some of the living too, half-alive, %waiting for theferry- a passel of nobodies %who never p Subject(s): All Souls' Day ALMOST A FANTASIA First Line: Daylight again, I sense it Last Line: To usher in the sring ALMOST A FANTASY, FR. MOVEMENTS First Line: The day returns. A dawn Last Line: While a hoopoe's red crest flares %to settle on a picket ANCIENT ONE Poem Text First Line: Ancient one, I am drunken with the voice ANCIENT ONE First Line: Ancient one, I am drunken with the voice Last Line: Among driftwood, seaweed, starfishes, %the fruitless rubbish of your void Subject(s): Scottish Translations ANCIENT ONE, I'M DRUNK WITH THE VOICE Last Line: The useless rubble of your abyss AND NOW THE RIPPLES OF ANXIETY Last Line: You love your roots today AND NOW THEY'RE GONE, THOSE ANXIOUS Last Line: How dearly you love these roots of yours %today ANNIVERSARY First Line: From the moment you were born Last Line: On the high branches, on the fruit ANNIVERSARY First Line: From the time of your birth Last Line: On the high branches, on the fruit ANOTHER MOON EFFECT First Line: The carob's mare's-nest that stands stark Last Line: Sails puffed like shedding skins ARGYLL TOUR First Line: Toddlers under the cedar, mushrooms Last Line: Till you appeared to your slave ARGYLL TOUR First Line: Children under the cedar tree, mushrooms or new Last Line: Appeared to your slave ARGYLL TOUR, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: Kids under the cedar, the wet weather Last Line: Altered, fumbling the key to my fetlock ARK First Line: The spring storm has upended Last Line: Loyalty, o lost ARK First Line: The umbrella of the willow tree Last Line: Stirs my ark like the yelp of a faithful dog, %o memories lost in me ARK, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: The spring thunderstorm has ravaged Last Line: Barking its certainty to the lost ones ARNO AT ROVEZZANO First Line: Great rivers are the image of time Last Line: A different comfort suits us now, a different %discomfort ARSENIO Poem Text First Line: Whirlwinds raise dust ARSENIO First Line: Eddying squalls raise the dust Last Line: And the wind whirls it away with the ashes of the stars ARSENIO First Line: Roof-high, winds worrying winds Last Line: A wind carries its ashes to the stars ARSENIO First Line: Whirligigs of wind stir up the dust Last Line: Carries it off with the ashes of the stars ARSENIO First Line: Dust devils of wind throw dust up Last Line: Carries it off with the ashes of the stars Subject(s): Death; Hell ARSENIO, FR. NOONS AND SHADOWS First Line: The wind picks up dust in frantic eddies Last Line: A wind lights up the ashes of the stars AT DAWN, WHEN SUDDENLY Last Line: At dawn and at dusk, even these %moments become human, if you %weave them together with your thread AT FIRST LIGHT, WHEN Last Line: As long as you will stitch them with your thread AT THE THRESHOLD Poem Text First Line: Be pleased if the wind that enters the orchard Subject(s): Conduct Of Life AT THIS POINT AT TIMES, CLIMBING DOWN Last Line: Mewed in the valley when she plummets %for the shore AUTUMN QUARRIES First Line: Where the moonlit spring descends Last Line: Will pass that plunders us BACKWARD GLANCE First Line: You turn around and it's another century Last Line: Nothing's stable. The word dries on the change BAGNI DI LUCCA Poem Text First Line: Between the thud of chestnuts BAGNI DI LUCCA First Line: Between the thud of chestnuts Last Line: The last flock is passing in the mist %of its breathing Subject(s): Scottish Translations BAGNI DI LUCCA First Line: I quiver at the edge Last Line: The last flock is passing %sealed in the mist of its own breath BAGNI DI LUCCA First Line: Amid the blending Last Line: In the mist of its breath BALCONY First Line: It seemed simple to make nothing from Last Line: From this unlighted window BALLAD WRITTEN IN A CLINIC First Line: In the wake of the emergency Last Line: Of the wooden dog is my own, and soundless BALLAD WRITTEN IN A HOSPITAL First Line: In the trough of the emergency Last Line: And the bulldog's howl, unuttered, is my own BANGS... First Line: The bangs that hide your childlike forehead Last Line: Gets melded with the dawn, eclipses it BE GLAD IF THE WIND, FR. MOVEMENTS First Line: Be glad if the wind frisking the orchard Last Line: I ask this of you, go, for then my thirst %will lack the sharp corrosiveness of rust BEACH AT VERSILIA First Line: I pray for my dead so that they might pray Last Line: This sea of clay and washed-up refuse BEACH IN VERSILIA, FR. SILVAE First Line: I pray to the dead that they pray for me Last Line: This wide sea's muddy sediment thrown up to light BIBE A PONTE ALL'ASSE First Line: Bibe, easy host, your brown-haired little queen of sheba Last Line: And a youngster bends his pole above the greve's elbow BIBE AT THE ASSE BRIDGE First Line: Dispensing a watery rufina Last Line: By the greve's round elbow a boy bends his cane BLACK ANGEL First Line: O great soot-black %angel, shelter me Last Line: Of ash and smoke, mini-angel %chimney-sweep BLACK TROUT First Line: Graduates in economics Last Line: That rises from your office catacomb BLACK TROUT First Line: Graduates in economics Last Line: From the deep chambers of your office BLACK TROUT, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: At evening bent over sidling water Last Line: In the bath, you are shadowy %in the depths of your office block BLACKCOCK First Line: Where you beat downward after the brief gunshot Last Line: In darkness; jove is underground BOATS ON THE MARNE First Line: An orange cork-float drifts with the current Last Line: (sunday boats on the marne, racing %on your anniversary.) BOATS ON THE MARNE First Line: Bliss of the cork abandoned to the current Last Line: (boats on the marne, sunday races %on your feast day BRING ME THE SUNFLOWER, I'LL PLANT IT HERE Last Line: Bring me the sunflower crazed with light BRING ME THE SUNFLOWER, LET ME PLANT IT Last Line: Bring me the sunflower crazed with light BUFFALO First Line: A sweet inferno, gusting, funneled Last Line: On the track CAFE AT RAPALLO First Line: Christmas in the tepidarium Last Line: Such as for us no more are green CALM HAS RETURNED Last Line: Higher, higher! CANEBRAKE SENDS ITS LITTLE SHOOTS Last Line: From its furrow, topples, vanishes in haze CAPERCAILLIE First Line: Where you fall after the sharp shot Last Line: In the gloom. Jove is underground CHANGING COLOR First Line: She took life with a demitasse spoon CHESS PLAYER First Line: At last with stubborn jabs of your fingers Last Line: Like snowmen, they melt in your mind's white glare CHILDREN DANCING First Line: Children dancing hand-in-hand on a rocky shore CHILDREN'S FARANDOLE ALONG THE SHORE Last Line: Even names, even clothes, were sin CHIMING PENDULUM CLOCK First Line: The old pendulum cock Last Line: Hanging on the wall. No doubt its outline %is probably stillthere, in the plaster CHORDS: 1. VIOLINS First Line: Youth, you lay out Last Line: In a morning bright %with martins Subject(s): Adolescence; Youth CHORDS: 5. OBOE First Line: There are rare moments Last Line: A smile begins for no reason Subject(s): Oboes; Theater And Theaters CHRYSALIS First Line: The dark green tree is streaked Last Line: And shudders into flame CHRYSALIS First Line: The deep-green tree Last Line: On a dry stalk and, trembling, blazes CLATTER OF THE ROOFTILES, SHATTERED BY Last Line: On the loom of men. And tomorrow COASTGUARD HOUSE First Line: A death-cell? The shack of the coastguards Last Line: Who forces an entrance COASTGUARD HOUSE First Line: You don't remember the coastguard house Last Line: Don't know who goes, who stays COASTGUARD'S HOUSE First Line: You don't recall the coastguard's house, that lair Last Line: Or which of us remains, and which goes lost COR ANGLAIS, FR. MOVEMENTS First Line: The wind alertly alive this evening Last Line: An out of tune instrument %beached by the gale CORRESPONDENCES First Line: Now that in the distance a mirage Last Line: That ply the steaming coast CORRESPONDENCES First Line: Now that in the distance a mirage Last Line: On scattered roofs - I ask the expresses' %hid fever on the coast that steams Subject(s): Scottish Translations CORRESPONDENCES First Line: On the skyline, a vaporous Last Line: Simmering outbursts on the steaming coast COSTA SAN GIORGIO First Line: A will-o-the wisp dusts the street with powder Last Line: Of a fallen puppet COSTA SAN GIORGIO First Line: A light in zizzags menaces the road Last Line: Of a child's puppet falling from its chair DAY AND NIGHT Poem Text First Line: Even a flying feather can sketch DAY AND NIGHT First Line: A feather floating from a feather-duster Last Line: To the reveille of military concerts DAY AND NIGHT First Line: Even a feather in flight can sketch Last Line: And cloisters and clinics waken %to a rending blare of trumpets Subject(s): World War I DAY AND NIGHT First Line: A floating feather, too, can sketch your image Last Line: To a rending chorus of horns DAY AND NIGHT First Line: Even a flying feather can sketch DAY AND NIGHT First Line: Even a driving feather could sketch Last Line: To a blast of trumpets DAY AND NIGHT, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: Even a feather floating in the air Last Line: To the strident brass of trumpets DEAD First Line: The sea crashing against the opposing Last Line: The drift down in the sea %that sifts them DEAD First Line: The sea that founders on the other shore Last Line: And in the sieve of the sea they drown DEAD, FR. NOONS AND SHADOWS First Line: The sea breaking on the opposite shore Last Line: Who hit the sea's green sieve and go under DELTA First Line: That life breaking off, secretly transfusing Last Line: From the fog, making for shore DELTA First Line: The life that breaks apart Last Line: Leaving the mist and making for the gulf DELTA, FR. NOONS AND SHADOWS First Line: How often, bound to you, my secrecy hurt Last Line: Comes with its stern lights flashing through the bay DISSOLVE IF YOU WILL THIS FRAIL Last Line: Burning, nothing else, is what I mean DISTANT, I WAS WITH YOU WHEN YOUR FATHER Last Line: And moans and the advancing of the squadrons DIVER First Line: The diver photographed au ralenti DON'T ASK FOR WORDS First Line: Don't ask for words to square the sides DON'T ASK ME FOR WORDS THAT MIGHT DEFINE Last Line: What we are not, what we do not want DON'T ASK US FOR THE WORD TO FRAME Last Line: What we are not, what we do not want DON'T ASK US THE WORD THAT WILL GIVE SHAPE DON'T ESCAPE INTO THE SHADE Last Line: Of one certainty: the light DON'T TAKE SHELTER IN THE SHADE Last Line: Of one certainty: light DORA MARKUS Poem Text First Line: It was where the wooden bridge DORA MARKUS First Line: It was where a plank pier Last Line: Voice, legend or destiny DORA MARKUS First Line: It was where a wooden jetty Last Line: But it is late, always later DORA MARKUS First Line: We stood where the wooden piers Last Line: But the hour is late, and grows always later DORA MARKUS First Line: It was where the wooden bridge Last Line: But it is late, always later and later Subject(s): Survival DORA MARKUS First Line: It was where the wooden bridge Last Line: But it's late, always later EARLY OR LATE First Line: As a boy I thought the landscape Last Line: Some savor life in sips, others guzzle; %but sip or guzzle, once drained, %it's the same unrefillabl EARRINGS First Line: The lampblack of the mirror show Last Line: Hands affix the corals to your ears EARRINGS First Line: The lamp-black of the mirror does not preserve Last Line: Squalid hands, turned over, hold the corals EASTBOURNE First Line: The natinal anthem's strident brass blares out Last Line: Nothing remains but the blacked-out ember %of a dead bank holiday EASTBOURNE First Line: The trumpets blare 'god save the king' Last Line: Is the bitter ember that was once %bank holiday ECLOGUE First Line: Losing myself in the swaying gray Last Line: When the hares begin to whistle ECLOGUE First Line: It was good getting lost Last Line: The hares begin to hiss ECLOGUE, FR. NOONS AND SHADOWS First Line: It was a ritual: we would lose ourselves Last Line: In my country this hour anticipates %the hare's lightning-bolt, its frightened whistle EEL First Line: The eel, the siren Last Line: Not believe her sister? Subject(s): Eels EEL First Line: The eel, the siren Last Line: Of men plucked in your mud, can you %not take her for a sister? Subject(s): Scottish Translations EEL First Line: The eel, cold-water Last Line: Generations immersed in mud, can you %not take her for a sister? Subject(s): Eels EEL First Line: The eel, the %siren of sleety seas, adandoning Last Line: The sons of me, steeped in your mire - in this %not recognize a sister? Subject(s): Eels EEL First Line: The eel, the north sea siren Last Line: You turn up stairs Subject(s): Eels EEL First Line: The eel, that north sea Last Line: Can you believe she is not your sister Subject(s): Eels EEL First Line: The eel, siren %of cold seas, who leaves Last Line: Can you fail to see her as a sister? EEL First Line: The eel, siren %of cold seas who leaves the baltic Last Line: Children, sunk in your slime, can you not %think her a sister? Subject(s): Eels EEL First Line: The eel, siren %of cold seas, who leaves Last Line: Do you not recognize her %there, your sister? EEL First Line: The eel, siren %of the cold seas, who leaves her baltic playground Last Line: And you can't call her sister? EL DESDICHADO First Line: I'm watching karajan's carmen on tv Last Line: Like felt, that blends into it %and doesn't speak ENCOUNTER First Line: Stay, my sorrow, do not Last Line: That I go down, %unflinching ENCOUNTER First Line: My sadness, don't desert me Last Line: Come without cowardice END OF '68 First Line: I've contemplated from the moon (or almost) Last Line: A stranger and far away END OF CHILDHOOD First Line: Roaring, a throbbing sea Last Line: A wind no doubt %was kicking up END OF CHILDHOOD First Line: Thundering, a throbbing sea Last Line: A wind had to come ENGLISH HORN First Line: Tonight this wind intently playing Last Line: This night, o discordant %heart ENGLISH HORN First Line: The intent wind that plays tonight Last Line: Discordant instrument, %heart EPIGRAM First Line: The top, the zenith Last Line: If someone throws himself %from the window EX ABRUPTO Poem Text First Line: A space of years divides us Subject(s): Time EX ABRUPTO First Line: A space of years divides us EZEKIEL SAW THE WHEEL First Line: Strange hand, have you snatched me away Last Line: And with them %your grasp...Like now EZEKIEL SAW THE WHEEL...' First Line: Snatched me from the ivey's tangle Last Line: And with them your claw, %as now FAINT WIND-BORNE SISTRUM Last Line: Plunges to the sea FALSETTO First Line: Esterina, your twentieth year now threatens Last Line: Who cling to the shore FALSETTO First Line: Esterina, you twenty years hover above you FALSETTO First Line: Esterina, twenty's out for you Last Line: Who are earthbound FALSETTO, FR. MOVEMENTS First Line: Esterina, how apprehensively Last Line: And can only stare at you %with a shocked incredulity FAN First Line: Ut pictura - the disconcerting lips Last Line: On the hordes! (is he who knows you doomed to die?) Subject(s): World War I FAN First Line: Ut pictura...The confounding lips Last Line: Over the hordes! (must he who sees you die? FAN First Line: Ut pictura...The disconcerting lips Last Line: Upon the croweds! (must he who knows you die?) FANFARE First Line: Dialectical historicism %materialstic Last Line: My disengaged friend %do you have any objections %to all this? FAREWELLS, WHISTLING IN THE DARK, WAVES, COUGHS Last Line: This awful, faithful carioca rhythm? FEEBLE SISTRUM IN THE WIND Last Line: Flows down and out FIESOLE WINDOW First Line: Here where the insidious cricket Last Line: Other fires, o my scarlet ivies FIESOLE WINDOW First Line: Here where the unrelenting cricket bores Last Line: Other flashes, o my scarlet ivies FINISTERRE: LA BUFERA E ALTRO: FINESTRA FIESLOANA First Line: Here where the tricky cricket bores Last Line: Not fill up, %other flames; oh my scarlet ivy FLORENTINE MADRIGALS First Line: Herma, seal with wax and string Last Line: The gong that calls you back among us, sister FLORENTINE MADRIGALS First Line: Shut out, herma, with tape and sealing wax Last Line: That calls you back among us, o my sister FLOWER ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE Last Line: So sultry you can barely %see through it, the funicular %carries me back to the other station %where FLOWER THAT REPEATS Last Line: Takes me across, where it's already dark FLUX First Line: Boys with snares Last Line: And life is more cruel than futile FLUX First Line: The boys with snares Last Line: And life is much more cruel than vain FOR AN 'HOMAGE TO RIMBAUD' First Line: Late-comer from the cocoon, marvellous Last Line: Thought and now, up there, his mistress FOR AN 'HOMAGE TO RIMBAUD' First Line: Late from your cocoon, miraculous Last Line: His first idea, and now its queen above FOR AN ALBUM First Line: Long before daybreak I started Last Line: Already far too rich to contain you alive FOR AN ALBUM First Line: I started, in fact, this morning Last Line: Already too rich to keep you alive FORLORN ON THE HILL Last Line: The lock with its fine pick FREEING A 'DOVE' First Line: A white dove has come down to me Last Line: Which does not fly, your look which dares it to FROG, FIRST TO STRIKE HIS CHORD Last Line: For sparks from their hooves FROG, FIRST TO TRY ITS CHORD AGAIN Last Line: The color of slate prepares for the explosion %of death-thinhorses, of flaming hooves FROM A SWISS LAKE First Line: My vixen, I myself was once th 'poete Last Line: Invites me to the new fire that will singe her FROM A TOWER First Line: I've seen the waterdipper Last Line: Go stiller still FROM THE TRAIN First Line: The blood-red turtledoves Last Line: Left me blind to the other FROM THE TRAIN, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: For the first time in living memory Last Line: Turn pink in a pool, the fire of its flight %proving correlates are individual FROST ON THE WINDOWPANES; THE SICK Last Line: To no avail: it's not your card GARDEN First Line: Messenger descending, %favorite of Last Line: Would show a single groove Variant Title(s): The Orchar GERTI'S CARNIVAL First Line: If your wheel gets snared in tangled Last Line: Come back to the springs that aren't flowering GLORY OF EXPANDED MOON Poem Text Subject(s): Time GLORY OF EXPANDED NOON Last Line: But there's greater joy in waiting GONDOLA THAT GLIDES Last Line: To the intent eel-fisher on the shore GOTTERDAMMERUNG First Line: We read that the twilight of the gods Last Line: Because the director's busy, sick, holed up %who knows where, and no one can sub for him GREEN LIZARD, IF IT DARTS Last Line: Rich and strange. Your stamp was different HAPPINESS ACHIEVED, FOR YOU Last Line: For the balloon that's gone between the houses HAPPINESS WON: FOR YOU WE WALK Last Line: Whose balloon vanishes between the buildings? HAUL YOUR PAPER BOATS Last Line: Beach your fleet, secure it in the brush HAUL YOUR PAPER SHIPS ON THE SEARED Last Line: Tie up your flotilla in the canes HEROISM First Line: Clizia used to suggest that I join Last Line: Who didn't love homelands and had one only by chance HIDING PLACES First Line: When I'm unsure of being alive HITLER SPRING Poem Text First Line: The white cloud of maddened moths swirls Subject(s): World War Ii; Second World War HITLER SPRING First Line: Dense, the white cloud of moths whirling Last Line: Of terror, on the burnt-out wadis of the south Subject(s): World War Ii HITLER SPRING First Line: A snowfall of maddened moths Last Line: In the raw and shingled gulches of the south HITLER SPRING First Line: The thick white cloud of mad moths whirls Last Line: Over the scorched rockbeds of the south HITLER SPRING First Line: Thick white cloud of crazy moths is whirling Subject(s): Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) HITLERIAN SPRING First Line: A dense white cold of maddened moths Last Line: April's reopened wound is raw HITLERIAN SPRING, FR. SILVAE First Line: A white cloud of moths crazily halo Last Line: Flashing over burnt wadis of the south HOMAGE TO RIMBAUD, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: Emerging from her fragile chrysalis Last Line: He owns the sky; his angel guards the bridge HOOPOE, HAPPY BIRD MALIGNED Last Line: Crazy winged thing, and you don't know it HOOPOE, MERRY BIRD, SLANDERED Last Line: O winged imp, and you don't know it HOPE OF EVEN SEEING YOU AGAIN Last Line: Two jackals on a leash HOUSE BY THE SEA Poem Text First Line: The journey ends here Subject(s): Travel HOUSE BY THE SEA First Line: Here the journey ends Last Line: By lifting sail for the eternities HOUSE BY THE SEA First Line: The journey ends here Last Line: Already, perhaps, weighs anchor for the eternal Subject(s): Houses; Sea; Travel HOUSE BY THE SEA First Line: The journey ends here Last Line: Already has set sail for the eternal HOUSE OF THE CUSTOMS MEN First Line: You won't recall the house ofthe customs men Last Line: And I dont know who's going or who'll stay HOUSE OF THE CUSTOMS MEN First Line: You do not remember the house of the customs men Last Line: And I do not know who goes and who remains HOUSE ON THE SEA, FR. NOONS AND SHADOWS First Line: Our voyage ends here in fragmentation Last Line: This moment steering for the endless blue? I FREE YOUR FOREHEAD OF THE ICE Last Line: Into the alley aren't aware you're here I HAVE LINGERED AT TIMES Last Line: The whispering calm repeats I HAVE OFTEN MET THE EVIL OF LIVING Last Line: Noon, and the cloud, and the hawk soaring I KNOW A RAY OF SUN (OF GOD?) CAN STILL Last Line: That darkness, let my swallow be a hawk I KNOW THAT MOMENT WHEN A GRIMACE OF PAIN Last Line: A song that weeps is a song of peace I KNOW THE MOMENT WHEN A RAW GRIMACE Last Line: The song that sobs is a song of peace I KNOW THE TIME WHEN THE MOST IMPASSIVE FACE I KNOW TIMES First Line: I know times when a grimace of pain I THINK AGAIN OF YOUR SMILE, A POOL OF LIMPID WATER Last Line: Like the spear of a young palm I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO FEEL HARSH AND ESSENTIAL Last Line: And now your frenzy rises to the stars I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO FEEL ROUGH, ELEMENTAL Last Line: And now your frenzy rises to the stars I'VE OFTEN MET First Line: I've often met life's sour notes I'VE PAUSED AT TIMES IN THE CAVES Last Line: And the trickle of calm air says it again IF AT LEAST I COULD FORCE Last Line: I have no senses and no sense. No limit IF ONLY I COULD FORCE Last Line: I have no sense, no senses. No limit IF THEY'VE COMPARED YOU... Last Line: If leaving me you turn away from the stairs? IF YOU WERE FOLLOWING Last Line: The wind that lingers, death, the death that lives! IMITATION OF THUNDER First Line: It seems every living thing IMPONDERABLE First Line: Uncertainty is harder than granite IN SLEEP First Line: The song on the screech owls, when a rainbow Last Line: It's still blood beyond death IN SLEEP First Line: The cries of owls, or the intermittent heartbeats Last Line: Deeper in, it is still blood beyond any death IN SLEEP, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: Tone's everything; the shriek of the screech-owl Last Line: Death is a blood-drop balanced on a pin IN SMOKE First Line: How many times in cold and fog I've waited Last Line: Then, last of all, you appeared. One memory %among so many. It dogs me in my dreams IN THE GREENHOUSE Poem Text First Line: The lemon bushes overflowed Subject(s): Plants IN THE GREENHOUSE First Line: The lemon-house was being over Last Line: The lemons, and me, and you IN THE GREENHOUSE First Line: A pattering of moles Last Line: Upon me, and you, and the lemon trees Subject(s): Greenhouses IN THE GREENHOUSE First Line: The lemon bushes overflowed Last Line: Upon me, upon you, and over the lemons IN THE PARK First Line: In the magnolia's ever Last Line: Your face with bits of straw Subject(s): Laughter; Love; Parks IN THE PARK First Line: In the magnolia's Last Line: Your face with bits of straw IN THE PARK First Line: In the shade of the magnolia Last Line: Your face with wisps of straw IN THE PARK AT CASERTA First Line: Where the cruel swan Last Line: Tapping for the void IN THE PARK, FR. SILVAE First Line: Under the magnolia's indian Last Line: I try to unravel the knot, %needling your face with bits of straw IN THE RAIN First Line: A murmur; and your house gets blurred Last Line: And rows for cape town IN THE SMOKE First Line: How many times I waited for you at the station Last Line: Among so many others, and it haunts my dreams IN THE STYLE OF FILIPPO DE PISIS, ON SENDING HIM THIS BOOK First Line: A sharp shot at the zig Last Line: Branches, to the cold balm of the stream INCANTATION First Line: Oh stay locked and free Last Line: The veil that once betrothed you to your god INDIAN SERENADE First Line: Still, this is ours, this shredding away of the evenings Last Line: And don't know it. You are him, and think you are %yourself INDIAN SERENADE First Line: The raveling of the evenings is ours, too Last Line: Unwittingly. You're him; you think you're you INDIAN SERENADE, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: Our moment comes when the evening reddens Last Line: You're part of him and yet you think you're you IRIS First Line: When suddenly saint martin shunts his embers Last Line: Into yours) has to continue IRIS First Line: When all at once st. Martin dumps Last Line: Into yours) must be carried on IS IT SALT OR HAIL RAGING IN THE STORM Last Line: The icy spheres - glittering there %like you playing lakme %as you trilled the aria of the bells IS IT SALT THAT STRAFES OR HAIL? IT SLAYS Last Line: Trilling the bell song IT'S ONLY AN ERROR First Line: Clowns got up as poets JANUARY 20 OR AGE 30 Poem Text First Line: Your age frightens me Subject(s): Youth; Transience; Impermanence KEEPSAKE First Line: Fanfan returns the victor; molly's sold Last Line: Of his green islands and won't dance L'ELAN VITAL First Line: It happened when a doctorate honoris causa Last Line: Jet blasted my ears %and I woke LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI First Line: To be sure the cantonal seagulls Last Line: Is no more than the flash of a lighter Subject(s): Birds; Gulls LA FARADOLA DEI FANCIULLI Poem Text First Line: How far back the ancient past seems now Last Line: Was being sunlight, flower, heat-shimmer Subject(s): Past LA FARADOLA DEI FANCIULLI First Line: How far back the ancient past seems now Last Line: Was being sunlight, flower, heat-shimmer Subject(s): Past LAC D'ANNECY First Line: I don't know why my memory links you Last Line: Now that I can't, I'm content %with the photo of the lake LATE AT NIGHT First Line: There's no conversing with shades Last Line: I think it's she who died. For at least a second %she was alive, %unawares LATE AT NIGHT First Line: A colloquy with the shades Last Line: And was never aware of it LATE IN THE NIGHT Poem Text First Line: One can't converse with shades Subject(s): Night; Bedtime LATE IN THE NIGHT First Line: One can't converse with shades Last Line: And did not know it Subject(s): Night LEAVING A DOVE First Line: A white dove has landed me Last Line: That doesn't soar, your stare that dares it to LEAVING A DOVE, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: A white dove it was that brought me here Last Line: You'd have levitate, and you dare it to LEMON TREES First Line: Listen; the poets laureate Last Line: From golden trumpets of solarity Subject(s): Lemons LEMON TREES First Line: Listen: the laurelled poets Last Line: And songs pelt %into the breast %and trumpets of gold pour forth %epiphanies of light! LEMON-YELLOW ROOSTER First Line: There, where you fall after the shot is fired Last Line: Like a maggot. And zeus is buried LEMONS First Line: Listen to me, the poets laureate Last Line: Pelt their songs LIKE A FANTASIA First Line: Day is dawning, I can tell Last Line: The air or light on a pole LINDAU First Line: Unfailingly the swallow maintains life Last Line: Listen, the wheels of the paddleboats wail LINDAU First Line: The swallow brings back blades of grass Last Line: Churns to the lowing of the paddleboats LINE OF DANCING CHILDREN ON THE SHORE Last Line: Even a name, and clothes, were a sin LITTLE TESTAMENT Poem Text First Line: This, that glimmers at night LITTLE TESTAMENT First Line: This that at night keeps flashing Last Line: Down there was not much of a match LITTLE TESTAMENT First Line: This thing the night flashes Last Line: Was not the fizzle of a wet match Subject(s): Faith LITTLE TESTAMENT First Line: Whatever beacon it its flickers Last Line: Of a flame struck down there, was from no match LITTLE TESTAMENT First Line: This, which flickers at night Last Line: Wasn't that of a match LITTLE TESTAMENT First Line: This light that flashes in the night Last Line: Was more than just a match LOCAL TRAIN First Line: It was like this, like the biting Last Line: Like this, you say? LORD OF THE REVELS First Line: I don't know where he is, the lord of the revels Last Line: But one thing's certain: someday other buttocks %will oppress his throne. The time is ripe LOW TIDE First Line: At evening, the oyster-catchers' shrill cries Last Line: Cropping each head of cattle from the plain LOW TIDE First Line: Clamorous evnings, when the swing Last Line: Arrives on the hills to graze MAGENTA COLOURED CLOUDS, FR. SILVAE First Line: Magenta clouds massed to a storm volume Last Line: The cave's vapour; I unravel your plot MAGENTA-COLORED CLOUDS Last Line: Deep, and barely audible MAGENTA-COLORED CLOUDS First Line: Magenta-colored clouds were gathering Last Line: Deep, barely audible MAGNOLIA'S SHADOW First Line: The japanese magnolia's shadow thins Last Line: Breaking water in the new moon. %goodbye MAGNOLIA'S SHADOW First Line: The shadow of the japanese magnolia MAGNOLIA'S SHADOW First Line: The shadow of the dwarf magnolia Last Line: Under the new moon %goodbye MANY YEARS, AND ONE STILL HARDER Last Line: In a maelstrom of undying faithfulness MAYBE ONE MORNING, WALKING IN AIR Last Line: With my secret, among men who don't look back MAYBE ONE MORNING, WALKING IN DRY, GLASSY AIR Last Line: Among the men who don't look back, with my secret MEDITERRANEAN Poem Text First Line: A whirlwind's vortex Subject(s): Sea; Ocean MEDITERRANEAN First Line: A whirlwind's vortex Last Line: That's my meaning, and nothing else MEDITERRANEAN First Line: A windfall of raucous jeers MEDITERRANEAN: ANCIENT SEA First Line: We share one language; your fluctuating Last Line: Amongst cork, bottles, beached seaweed, starfish, %the unavailing jetsam of the void MEDITERRANEAN: ANGULARITY First Line: I should have had the angularity Last Line: Now your delirium climbs starward in its rage MEDITERRANEAN: MEDITERRANEAN First Line: We have no preconception Last Line: Will speak to a fraternal heart, %desolate, rimed with greek salt MEDITERRANEAN: THEN OBLITERATE First Line: Then obliterate if you wish Last Line: And well I know it, to burn, %this is my single, solitary meaning MEDITERRANEAN: VORTEX First Line: Over me, a vortex Last Line: Aimed for the swirling bay, %go blue and white arrows, a pair of jays MEN WHO TURN BACK First Line: Probably %you're no longer what you once were Last Line: If we're still alive %or were deluded in thinking so. %we slide along MESCO POINT First Line: At dawn, unbending flights of partridges Last Line: Then blasted by the next charge into air METROPOLITAN CHRISTMAS First Line: Cluster of faith and frost, the mistletoe Last Line: On the moving stairs that take you down METROPOLITAN CHRISTMAS First Line: Mistletoe, from childhood a hanging cluster Last Line: On the escalator which slides you down METROPOLITAN CHRISTMAS, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: Mistletoe frosting above your basin Last Line: Whisked us, diving for the escalator MINSTRELS First Line: Refrain rebounding Last Line: Your flute fumbles the unknown notes MINSTRELS First Line: Refrain, echoing %through summer's hazy windowpanes Last Line: The new notes on your flute MOIRE First Line: You bail, the boat already lists Last Line: In a blue abyss, that thickens MOIRE First Line: You bail, already the boat lists Last Line: In an eddy of deepening blue MOTETS: 1 Poem Text First Line: You know this: I must lose you again and cannot MOTETS: 1 First Line: You know: I'm going to lose you again Last Line: I am after the lost sign, the one %pledge I had from you MOTETS: 1 . First Line: You know it: I should renounce you but I cannot Last Line: I search for one involuntary sign %that never comes. %and hell is certain MOTETS: 10 Poem Text First Line: Why wait? The squirrel in the pine tree MOTETS: 10 First Line: The dark increases; the squirrel lashes Last Line: That flaring free might flush you, but go wide MOTETS: 10 First Line: The spirit that dispenses Last Line: To one who dowsn't know you, and %the theme is there insisting, do re la sol sol ... MOTETS: 10 First Line: Why are you waiting? The squirrel in the pine tree Last Line: The flash of lightning, leave the cloud Subject(s): Clouds; Evening; Thunder MOTETS: 11 Poem Text First Line: The soul that releases Subject(s): Relationships MOTETS: 11 First Line: I free your forehead of the icicles Last Line: In the sky; and the other shadows turning %into the alley don't knowthat you're here MOTETS: 12 Poem Text First Line: I free your brow of the icicles Subject(s): Gondolas & Gondoliers MOTETS: 12 First Line: The gondola that slithers Last Line: By fits and starts, that makes me brother to %the serious eel-fisher on the shore Subject(s): Gondolas And Gondoliers MOTETS: 12 First Line: I run my hand across your forehead Last Line: Don't know that you are here Subject(s): Clouds; Cold; Cyclones MOTETS: 13 Poem Text First Line: The gondola that glides in a flash MOTETS: 13 First Line: The gondola's wake is a furrow's width Last Line: Of someone fishing for eels on the bank MOTETS: 13 First Line: Is it salt that strafes, or hail? Last Line: When you were lakme, %trilling the bell song MOTETS: 13 First Line: The gondola that glides Last Line: Fishing for eels on the bank Subject(s): Gondolas And Gondoliers MOTETS: 14 Poem Text First Line: Is it pelting salt or hail? Laying waste Subject(s): Love MOTETS: 14 First Line: Angular, sugar-crackling, pin-dot hail Last Line: Things glitter like you when playing lakme %you sang the aria of the bells MOTETS: 14 First Line: At first light, when Last Line: Light and dark, still human intervals %as long as you still knit them with your thread MOTETS: 15 Poem Text First Line: At dawn, when MOTETS: 15 First Line: The flower that repeats Last Line: In haze you almost see, the cable car %takes me back where it's already dark MOTETS: 16 Poem Text First Line: The flower that repeats Subject(s): Flowers MOTETS: 16 First Line: In repeating blues the forget-me-not Last Line: I disembarked, already I could hear %the sky's thunder volume tune up the dark MOTETS: 16 First Line: The frog, first to strike his chord Last Line: For famished horses to break out, %for sparks from their hooves MOTETS: 17 Poem Text First Line: The frog, first to try its chord again Subject(s): Frogs MOTETS: 17 First Line: A tea-rose sky. The frog's bass-chords resound Last Line: One's ear twitches for the sparkling of hooves, %the onset of lean horses breaking through MOTETS: 17 First Line: Shears, don't cut away that face Last Line: Shakes off the cicada's husk %into the first november mud MOTETS: 18 Poem Text First Line: Do not cut away, scissors, that face Subject(s): Cold MOTETS: 18 First Line: The reed that softly Last Line: Beyond her distant pupils, now %two simple light beams crossing. %and time passing MOTETS: 19 Poem Text First Line: The reed that sheds its MOTETS: 19 First Line: Come spring, the reed discards its red feather Last Line: Your twin pupils become crosses of light. %and time passes MOTETS: 19 First Line: ... But so be it. Blare of a cornet Last Line: A sheaf of pages. Life, which seemed immense, %is smaller than your handkerchief MOTETS: 19 First Line: The reed that sheds its Last Line: And time passes Subject(s): Aging MOTETS: 2 Poem Text First Line: Many years, and one harder above a foreign MOTETS: 2 First Line: Long years, and one more difficult Last Line: East wind ... And then descend for you %in eddying fidelity,immortal MOTETS: 20 Poem Text First Line: . . . So be it. The sound of a cornet Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence MOTETS: 20 First Line: ...So be it. The sound of a cornet Last Line: Of manuscript. The life I thought so vast %is briefer than your handkerchief MOTETS: 3 Poem Text First Line: Frost on the windows. Always Subject(s): Exile MOTETS: 3 First Line: Frost on the windowpanes; the sick Last Line: A harsh wing, showed, and sheared your hands, %to no avail, it's not your card MOTETS: 4 Poem Text First Line: Far away, yet I was with you when your father Subject(s): Absence; Fathers; Death; Separation; Isolation; Dead, The MOTETS: 4 First Line: Distant, I was with you when your father Last Line: Cumerlotti and anghebeni - to exploding mines %and moans and the advancing of the squadrons MOTETS: 5 Poem Text First Line: Goodbyes, whistles in the dark, nods, winks, coughs Subject(s): Farewell; Parting MOTETS: 5 First Line: Farewells, whistling in the dark, waves, coughs Last Line: Your train's faint hymn %this awful, faithful carioca rhythm? MOTETS: 6 Poem Text First Line: I had lost hope almost Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation MOTETS: 6 First Line: I'd lost the hope of seeing you again Last Line: A liveried servant tightened his grip, %dragging two jackals on a leash) MOTETS: 6 First Line: The hope of even seeing you again Last Line: A servant wearing gold braid led %two jackals on a leash.) MOTETS: 7 Poem Text First Line: The black and white ups and downs of the Subject(s): Grief; Absence; Sorrow; Sadness; Separation; Isolation MOTETS: 7 First Line: In undulating flights martins reveal Last Line: Your threat hums like the fin-tip of a shark MOTETS: 7 First Line: The black-and-white sine wave Last Line: If the brightness is a truce, %your life, your blood in my veins MOTETS: 8 Poem Text First Line: Here is the sign; it shivers MOTETS: 8 First Line: The green lizard, if it darts Last Line: Can change you into something rich %and strange. Your mark was different MOTETS: 9 Poem Text First Line: The green lizard, if it darts MOTETS: 9 First Line: What are you waiting for? The squirrel Last Line: Nothing ends, or everything, %if, brightness, you desert your cloud MOTETTI: 1 First Line: You know this: I must lose you again and cannot Last Line: For the sign I have lost, the only pledge %I had from you. %now hell is certain Variant Title(s): The Motets: Subject(s): Genoa, Italy MOTETTI: 2 First Line: Many years, and one of the a little harder Last Line: Rising and falling in the brutal wind %of my heart - and descend for you %into a chasm of fidelity, MOTETTI: 3 First Line: Frost in the windowpanes; the sick Last Line: A hard wing brushed past you, touching your hands, %but to no purpose: this was not your card MOTETTI: 4 First Line: Far away, still I was with you Last Line: Me once again to cumerlotti %or anghebeni, among the exploding %shells, the screams, %the panic of t MOTETTI: 5 First Line: The long goodbyes, the whistles in the dark Last Line: --can you hear it too? The harsh %litany of the express, theterrifying, %steady rhythm of a dance? MOTETTI: 6 First Line: I had almost lost Last Line: (under the arches at modena %I saw an old man in a uniform %dragging two jackals on a leash) MOTETTI: 7 First Line: The black and white Last Line: If this clear light %signifies a truce, %the sweet threat of you %consumes it MOTETTI: 8 First Line: Here is the sign; it trembles Last Line: So lightly from the greenhouse %is not muffled %by the snow,is still %you life, your blood %in my ve MOTETTI: 9 First Line: If the green lizard darts Last Line: That a flash of lightning %can change you into something %rich and strange. You chose another shape MY LIFE, I ASK OF YOU NO STABLE Last Line: Sounds with a rifle shot NEAR CAPUA First Line: ...Its yellow floodtide cresting at the bend Last Line: While the gorging river sank in sand NEAR FINISTERE First Line: The arc of your eyebrow ended Last Line: God sees me and your sea-green pupils %see through him NEAR SIENA First Line: Alas, that memory at its height Last Line: Forked lightning at his rebel NEAR VIENNA First Line: The baroque convent Last Line: The one fraternal voice inside the heat NEW STANZAS First Line: Decisively you extinguish the last Last Line: You sniff their embers and await the flare NEW STANZAS First Line: Now that with a flourish you've stubbed out Last Line: With your eyes of steel NEW STANZAS First Line: Now that the last shreds of tobacco Last Line: That blinds the pawns, oppose %your eyes of steel NEWS FROM MOUNT AMIATA First Line: The crackling firework of sultry weather Last Line: Our union's severed in the blowing dark NEWS FROM MOUNT AMIATA First Line: The stormy weather's fireworks Last Line: Interior. Outside it's raining NEWS FROM MOUNT AMIATA First Line: Come night %the ugly weather's fire-cracker simmer Last Line: The porcupine sips a quill of mercy NEWS FROM MOUNT AMIATA First Line: By later tonight the fireworks of the storm Last Line: My waking vigil to your deep dreaming sleep NOON, FR. CUTTLEFISH BONES First Line: A contemplative siesta Last Line: To find the jagged glass rim sharp as a knife NORTH WIND First Line: And now those anxious grooves have gone Last Line: Above the convulsions of earth, %and how you love your roots today NORTH WIND First Line: The skips of anxiety ruffling NOTHING SERIOUS First Line: Maybe summer has given up the ghost Last Line: Thinking of cicadas. And it's his own fault %if he's unaware of the fact NOW AND THEN, SUDDENLY Last Line: That each soon feels for his father NOW THE CALM RETURNS, THE AIR Last Line: Pausing, driven by images below: %'farther, farther!' O ANCIENT, I AM DRUNK ON THE VOICE Last Line: The waste of your abyss O SCIROCCO, RABID GALE Last Line: This rootedness of mine %is torture OFTEN I'VE ENCOUNTERED EVIL Last Line: Of noon, and the cloud, and the hawk that soars OLD LINES First Line: I remember the moth that flew in Last Line: As it falls to the sea ON A LETTER NEVER WRITTEN First Line: Today, do the paired dolphins Last Line: Breaks on the point, at finisterre ON A LETTER UNWRITTEN, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: For the recurrent blueness of sea dawns Last Line: Rockface, fishing for a message. The wave %emptily breaks on rocks at finisterre ON A LOST CAT First Line: The poor little orphan Last Line: Will fail of its own accord ON AN UNWRITTEN LETTER First Line: Is it for tingling sunrises, for a few ON AN UNWRITTEN LETTER First Line: Is it for a swarm of dawns, for a few Last Line: Breaks on the point, at finisterre ON THE GREVE First Line: Now I feast not just my eyes Last Line: Your deep breathing wine ON THE GREVE First Line: Now a glance no longer sustains [or, a glance alone cannot sustain] me Last Line: Your deep, deep breath is wine ON THE HIGHEST COLUMN First Line: Christ the judge, supposedly Last Line: The column spoke the law through you alone ON THE HIGHEST COLUMN First Line: He will have to get up there Last Line: Spelled out the law only for you ON THE LLOBREGAT First Line: From the incorruptible green of the camphot tree Last Line: You had jammed down the accelerator ON THE LLOBREGAT First Line: Out of the incorruptible green of the camphor tree Last Line: But you'd stepped on the pedal suddenly ON THE LLOBREGAT, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: Two notes, an interval of a major third Last Line: Already you'd slammed down the accelerator ON THE THRESHOLD First Line: Be happy if the wind inside the orchard Last Line: Will be easy, my rancor less bitter ORCHARD First Line: I don't know, sweet messenger Last Line: Would find a single groove PALIO First Line: Your flight, then, didn't fade out Last Line: But the groove gets etched. Then nothing more PARADES OF 1949 First Line: Heat-lightning at the outset Last Line: Cybele and her corybants PERSONAE SEPARATAE First Line: Like the scale of gold that lifts off from Last Line: Now at daybreak it's already night PERSONAE SEPARATAE First Line: Like some golden scale which surfaces Last Line: Night %already is half-way down PERSONAE SEPARATAE, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: A split-off meltingly gold scale Last Line: Then disappeared. In you a light still burns %above a dark that could be the first day PERSONAE SEPARATE Poem Text First Line: Like the golden scale that emerges Last Line: Break, it's already almost night Subject(s): World War I; First World War PERSONAE SEPARATE First Line: Like the golden scale that emerges Last Line: Light, today no longer, now that at day - %break, it's already almost night Subject(s): World War I PICO FARNESE ELEGY First Line: The pilgrims stopping over who have kept Last Line: Young anacleto loads the guns again PIROPO, IN CONCLUSION First Line: Your arms, so wondderful! Last Line: When I die, come embrace me, %but take off your sweater first POEMS FOR CAMILLO SBARBARO: 1. CAFE AT RAPALLO First Line: Christmas in the gleaming Last Line: Where you and I will never graze again POEMS FOR CAMILLO SBARBARO: 1. CAFE AT RAPALLO First Line: Christmas in the gleaming Last Line: That for us is green no longer POEMS FOR CAMILLO SBARBARO: 2. EPIGRAM First Line: Sbarbaro, whimsical lad, maker of varicolored Last Line: Before it founders; nudge it to its cove of pebbles POEMS FOR CAMILLO SBARBARO: 2. EPIGRAM First Line: Sbarbaro, whimsical boy, folds multiclolored Last Line: Guide it to a little port of stones POET First Line: Little breath is left me, but I hope to be able Last Line: But one's form POOL First Line: A smile of bella donna in bloom Last Line: It was born, and died, it had no name POOL First Line: A blooming belladonna smile Last Line: It lived and died and never had a name PRECAUTIONS First Line: Not incorrectly Last Line: The only one available %was short PRISONER'S DREAM First Line: Here few signs distinguish dawns from nights Last Line: My dream of you isn't over PRISONER'S DREAM First Line: Here dawns and twilights differ merely by motions Last Line: My dreams of you is not yet over PRISONER'S DREAM, FR. SILVAE First Line: Dawn lacks distinction here from night Last Line: My dream of you will last all night PROCESSIONS OF 1949 First Line: Sultry lightning along the points of departure Last Line: Pilgrims, cybele and the corybants PROMENADE First Line: The wind picks up, the dark is torn to shreds Last Line: On the long, long lashes of your look PUNTA DEL MESCO First Line: In the sky above the quarry, scored at dawn Last Line: Your childhood shattered my gunfire %lives again! RACKETING CATCALLS SPIRAL DOWN Last Line: Shoot by toward the roaring waters READING CAVAFY First Line: While nero sleeps placidly, in his Last Line: I have never possessed mousetraps RED LILY First Line: The red lily, if one day Last Line: The harp of heaven, make death a friend RED LILY First Line: If one day the red lily Last Line: The celestial harp, to make death, for you, a friend REED THAT SOFTLY Last Line: Two simple light beams crossing. %and time passes REJOICE WHEN THE BREEZE THAT ENTERS THE ORCHARD Last Line: Will be slaked, my rancor less bitter RETURN First Line: Here's mist and wild wind on the sandy Last Line: Tarantula bite: I'm ready RETURN First Line: The gusty siftings of the libeccio Last Line: Tarantula bite; its venomous poison won SARCOPHAGI First Line: Where are they going, the girls with little curls Last Line: Circled by a ring of dancing hares SARCOPHAGI: BUT WHERE IS THE LOVER'S TOMB Last Line: And rabbits dancing around it SARCOPHAGI: THE FIRE CRACKLING Last Line: Provisions packed for the last journey spill %to the ground SARCOPHAGI: WALK MORE WARILY NOW Last Line: Above the roof a cloud looms, %majestic SARCOPHAGI: WHERE GIRLS WITH WAVY HAIR PASS BY Last Line: Jars of wine brimming on your shoulders SCISSORS, DON'T CUT AWAY THAT FACE Last Line: And the wounded acacia shakes of %the shell of a cicada %into the mud of early november SEA FRONT, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: The gust increases, the sky turns agate Last Line: A short fuse on to each sweeping eyelash SEACOASTS Last Line: That swathes you, coasts, %to flower again! SEACOASTS First Line: Seacoasts, %a few spears of sawgrass Last Line: That swathes you, seacoasts %flower anew! SEASCAPE First Line: The wind rises, the dark is torn to shreds SEASIDE First Line: The air rattles, the darkness is torn to shreds Last Line: Is on the long, long lashes of your look SEE THE SIGN; IT FLARES Last Line: Your life, your blood in my veins SHADE OF THE MAGNOLIA SHADOW OF THE MAGNOLIA First Line: The shadow of the japanese magnolia Last Line: Which leads you and into which I throw myself, mullet %leaptclear of water in the new moon. %goodbye Subject(s): Scottish Translations SHADOW OF THE MAGNOLIA First Line: The shadow of the japanese magnolia Last Line: Leap into dryness under the new moon SHADOW OF THE MAGNOLIA First Line: The shadow of the japanese magnolia Last Line: A fish in the high dry air under the new moon SHEARS, DON'T CUT AWAY THAT FACE Last Line: Into the first november mud SHOOT STRETCHING FROM THE WALL Last Line: That cuts the water and leaves no trace SHORE OF VERSILIA First Line: My dead, to whom I pray so they may pray Last Line: Sea of muck and refuse Variant Title(s): Coast Of Versili SIROCCO, FR. NOONS AND SHADOWS First Line: The sirocco's raging dust Last Line: I feel my immobility %lashed by the hot grit driven off the road SIT THE NOON OUT, PALE AND LOST IN THOUGHT Last Line: With broken bottle shards imbedded in the top SLOPE First Line: A blare of trumpets breaks Last Line: Of horns is heard. A dissolution SLOPE First Line: A sound of trumpets comes Last Line: A wailing of horns, a fading SOLILOQUY First Line: The canal flows silently %malodorously Last Line: Nothing to satisfy the ravenous jaws %of the future SOME MORNING PERHAPS First Line: Some morning perhaps, walking early in the air SOMETIMES, COMING DOWN Last Line: Out of the hidden valley to the shore SORAPIS, 40 YEARS AGO First Line: I've never liked the mountains much Last Line: Youth is the vilest of deceptions SPELLBOUND First Line: O stay closed and free in the islands Last Line: Betrothed you to your god SPIRIT THAT DISPENSES Last Line: Is there insisting, do re la sol sol SPIRIT THAT SCATTERS ANCIENT Last Line: To other people who don't know you, %but your design is always there %insisting, do re la sol sol .. SPLENDOR OF NOON OUTSPREAD Last Line: But happiness won is in the waiting SQUALL / OF ANTIC FLEERING SWOOPS Last Line: Of blue-white arrows -- %two jays SQUANDER, IF YOU WANT Last Line: This, and only this, is my meaning STANZAS First Line: I can't locate the invisible point Last Line: Damnation is perhaps this cyclonic %darkness come down upon whoever stays STANZAS First Line: I'm searching vainly for the point the blood Last Line: On those who remain STORM First Line: The storm splattering the tough magnolia Last Line: You waved to me - and stepped into darkness Subject(s): World War I STORM First Line: The storm that drums the hard Last Line: Waved to me - and went into the dark STORM First Line: The storm that trickles its long march Last Line: You waved to me-and entered the dark STORM, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: The storm streaming down on the hard Last Line: A cloud of hair - %greeted me to step off into the dark STRANDS OF HAIR... First Line: You mustn't push back the bangs which veil Last Line: Merges with dawn, and hides it SUDDENLY, AT TIMES, THERE COMES Last Line: May be the rancor, %o sea, that every son feels for his father SUMMER First Line: The kestrel's filtered shadow leaves no trace Last Line: Too many lives are needed to make one SUMMER First Line: The crossed shadow of the kestrel seems unknown Last Line: Too many lives go into making one SUNFLOWER First Line: Bring me the sunflower to plant in my garden here Last Line: Bring me that flower impassioned of the light Subject(s): Sunflowers SUNFLOWER, FR. CUTTLEFISH BONES First Line: Bring me the sunflower and I'll transplant Last Line: Where all matter's transformed into essence, %its radial clockface feeding on the light SWISS LAKE, SELS First Line: My little fox, at one time I, too Last Line: He leads the way to the new fire, where he will burn SYRIA First Line: The ancients said that poetry Last Line: The way to aleppo SYRIA First Line: The ancients said that poetry Last Line: The way to aleppo SYRIA, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: The ancients said that poetry Last Line: Of blood on a boulder pointed %the way to aleppo THE DEAD Poem Text First Line: The sea that breaks on the opposite shore Subject(s): Death; Sea; Dead, The; Ocean THE EARRINGS Poem Text First Line: The lampblack of the mirror holds Subject(s): Earrings THE EEL Poem Text First Line: The eel, the siren Subject(s): Eels THE LEMON TREES Poem Text First Line: Listen; the poets laureate Subject(s): Lemons; Lemon Trees THE SHADOW OF THE MAGNOLIA Poem Text First Line: The shadow of the japanese magnolia Subject(s): Scottish Translations THE STORM Poem Text First Line: The storm that trickles its long march Subject(s): World War I; First World War THE SUNFLOWER Poem Text First Line: Bring me the sunflower to plant in my garden here Subject(s): Sunflowers THE WALL Poem Text First Line: To lie in shadow on the lawn Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers THERE THE TRITONE SURGES Last Line: To find a face to wear THERE TRITON SURGES Last Line: And assume a face THINK BACK ON YOUR SMILE, AND FOR ME IT'S A CLEAR POOL Last Line: Sharp like the crest of a young palm THIS CHRISTIAN WRANGLE THAT KNOWS ONLY Last Line: Will slake their thirst at a trickle of pity THRUST AND REPLY First Line: Your letter, arsenio, finds me here Last Line: The eagle is never born of the mouse TIME AND TIMES First Line: There's no unique time, rather many tapes Last Line: Have recognized each other in time to say, %not be-seeing-you, but goodbye TIMES AT BELLOSGUARDO First Line: The horizon arches towards the hills Last Line: And finds the serial to the mystery %with the fine point of a picklock TIMES AT BELLOSGUARDO First Line: Oh how there in the glittering Last Line: Desire can find the words! TO LAZE AT NOON, PALE AND THOUGHTFUL Last Line: With jagged shards of broken bottles TO LIUBA, LEAVING First Line: Not the cricket but the cat Last Line: Rides out the flood - and is enough to save you TO MY MOTHER First Line: Now that the choir of rock partridges Last Line: Is a gesture of yours, too, in the shadow of the crosses TO MY MOTHER First Line: Now that the chorus of the rock partridge Last Line: Only one of your gestures in the shadow of the crosses TO PASS THE NOON, INTENT AND PALE First Line: To pass the noon, intent and pale Last Line: The top of which jagged bits of bottles run TO SPEND THE AFTERNOON Poem Text First Line: To spend the afternoon, absorbed and pale Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening TOWARDS FINISTERE, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: Stags bellowing in the rain at armor Last Line: My proof's in your aquamarine pupils %which also point towards infinity TOWARDS FINISTERRE First Line: With the bellowing of the stags in the breton rain Last Line: That your eyes, circles of aquamarine, still look for him TOWARDS SIENA First Line: How sad, that memory at its fullest Last Line: Hurled lightning down on the rebel TOWARDS SIENA, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: Once its course is determined, memory Last Line: The lightning of his issue chars the pen TOWER, SELS First Line: I have seen the black water bird Last Line: Of blood grow muter, speechless TRAIN, SELS First Line: The solferino ring-neck turtle doves Last Line: Of fire blinded me to the other TRAMONTANA, FR. NOONS AND SHADOWS First Line: Now that the fret of anxious ripples Last Line: To which a later sun will give birth TWIG THAT JUTS FROM THE WALL... Last Line: Leaves no wake in the water TWO IN TWILIGHT First Line: An underwater brightness flows Last Line: Two masks forcibly etched %with smiles TWO IN TWILIGHT First Line: A watery brightness flows between you and me Last Line: Which carve on their surfaces, with difficulty, %two smiles UNDER THE RAIN Poem Text First Line: A murmur; and your house is blurred UNDER THE RAIN First Line: A murmur; and your house is blurred Last Line: He strokes on his way towards the cape Subject(s): Scottish Translations UNDER THE RAIN First Line: A cloud-dash, and your house obscured by haze Last Line: Lifting off from the misty pinnacle, %stroking its way towards the cape UNTITLED First Line: I often met evil in life UNTITLED First Line: I would have liked to feel scoured, bared VALMORBIA, ACROSS YOUR GLENS CLOUD-BLOSSOMS Last Line: Memory, land that lightens VALMORBIA, F5OWERING CLOUDS OF PLANTS Last Line: Land where night never comes VENETIAN PROSE Poem Text First Line: Only following orders Subject(s): Miller, Arthur (1915-2005) VENETIAN PROSE First Line: Only following orders Last Line: Was still around to read his obituaries Subject(s): Miller, Arthur (b. 1915) VISIT TO FADIN First Line: Past madonna dell'orto, then under the Last Line: Word, perhaps, was not among those that %are written down VOICE ARRIVING WITH THE COOTS First Line: Since the road already travelled, if I turned back Last Line: To take us back, to take us in VOICE THAT CAME WITH THE COOTS First Line: Since the road traveled, if I look back, is longer Last Line: To fill itself with us, to find us again WALL First Line: To lie in shadow on the lawn Last Line: With bits of broken bottles on its crest Subject(s): Labor And Laborers WE DON'T KNOW HOW WE'LL TURN UP Last Line: To a brother heart WELL'S PULLEY CREAKS Last Line: Vision, a distance keeps us separate WELL, FR. CUTTLEFISH BONES First Line: The handle creaks in cranking the well-shaft Last Line: It's only for a moment that we're two WHAT I ASK, MY LIFE, IS NOT FIRM Last Line: Is shattered by a shot WHAT TOMORROW WILL BRING, JOYFUL Last Line: With salt-sea brine WHAT YOU KNEW OF ME Last Line: I'd give it to you, gladly WHAT YOU KNEW OF ME Last Line: And offer it to you WHERE THE TENNIS COURT WAS... First Line: Where the tennis court once was, enclosed Last Line: His 7 centime cavour WHITE-AND-BLACK SINE Last Line: Your sweet threat consumes it WHY ARE YOU WAITING? THE SQUIRREL IN THE PINE TREE Last Line: Nothing will end, or everything, if you, %the flash of lightning, leave the cloud WHY WAIT? THE SQUIRREL BEATS HIS TORCH-TAIL Last Line: If, thunderbolt, you leave your cloud WIND AND BANNERS First Line: The gust that lofted the brackish saltwater Last Line: That starving men should keep such holiday WIND AND FLAGS First Line: The gust that lifted the bitter scent Last Line: Starved men are celebrating WIND AND FLAGS, FR. MOVEMENTS First Line: The wind carries a scent of spray Last Line: In the portent of evening wait %the scarlet and black messengers WIND IN THE CRESCENT First Line: The muckle brig didna gang your wey Last Line: And gart them flee abune the taurry daurk Subject(s): Scottish Translations WIND ON THE CRESCENT First Line: The great bridge didn't lead to you Last Line: And houses over the pitch WIND ON THE CRESCENT First Line: The big bridge did not lead to you Last Line: And lifted them up, into the darkness WIND ON THE HALFMOON First Line: The huge bridge did not lead to you WINDLASS CREAKS IN THE WELL Last Line: Driving you from me WINDOW AT FIESOLE, FR. FINISTERRE First Line: Insistently a cricket penetrates Last Line: In its green whirl. Another transient gleam, %and in the scarlet ivies, other fires WINTER LIGHT First Line: When I came down from the sky above palmyra Last Line: I was new, and ashes WINTER LIGHT First Line: When I came down from the sky of palmyra Last Line: Which rose, I became new, burned to ashes WINTER LIGHT, FR. SNAPSHOTS AND DEDICATIONS First Line: When I dropped down from the sky above Last Line: And my brilliance burned to ashes XENIA 1 First Line: Little fly-like insect mosca Last Line: That one or together we're still alone XENIA 2 First Line: Death didn't concern you Last Line: Even if you knew it you couldn't see XENIA: 1 First Line: Dear little insect %whom we called mosca-I don't know why Last Line: We are a single thing XENIA: 2 First Line: Death didn't concern you Last Line: And perhaps you didn't know it XENIA; 1964-1966 - IN MEMORY OF THE POET'S WIFE First Line: Dearest little fly Last Line: To know that alone or together %we are a single thing YOU KNOW IT First Line: You know it: I have to lose you again and I cannot Last Line: Lost now, the only pledge I had, freely granted, %from you. %and hell is certain Subject(s): Scottish Translations YOU KNOW: I'M GOING TO LOSE YOU AGAIN Last Line: And hell is certain YOU'VE NAMED A TREE FOR ME IT ISN'T NOTHING Last Line: Fleshy petals and the fire flares YOUR FLIGHT First Line: If you appear in the fire Last Line: Retrieve its true believer %from the dead? YOUR FLIGHT First Line: Two lights will wrangle over your soul Last Line: Its faithful one from among the dead? YOUR HAND WAS TRYING THE KEYBOARD Last Line: And your winsome ignorance was mine, was ours YOUR HAND WAS TRYING THE KEYBOARD Last Line: And your sweet ignorance was mine, was ours [THE STRASBOURG CRICKET...] First Line: The strasbourg cricket drilling away at night Last Line: Words -- and spoken for me |
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