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Author: TRANSTROMER, TOMAS
Matches Found: 263


Transtromer, Tomas    Poet's Biography
263 poems available by this author


ABOUT HISTORY       
First Line: One day in march I go down to the sea and listen
Last Line: Just as a memory is slowly transmuted into your own self


ABOUT HISTORY       
First Line: One march day I walked down to the lake shore to listen
Last Line: Like an old memory gradually changing into you


AFTER A DEATH    Poem Text    
First Line: Once there was a shock
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


AFTER A DEATH       
First Line: Once there was a shock
Last Line: The samurai looks insignificant %beside his armor of black dragon scales


AFTER A LONG DRY SPELL       
First Line: The summer is gray now strange evening
Last Line: It's all right to live by your own code


AFTER DEATH       
First Line: Once there was a shock
Last Line: Beside his armor of black dragon scales


AFTER THE ATTACK       
First Line: The sick boy
Last Line: No one notices it


AFTER THE ATTACK       
First Line: The sick boy. %locked in a vision
Last Line: He has come nearer. %no one notices it


AGITATED MEDITATION       
First Line: A storm makes the vanes of the mill whiz around
Last Line: Goes to sea comes back sturned to stone


AIR MAIL    Poem Text    
First Line: On the hunt for a letter-box
Last Line: No one makes it his own
Subject(s): Letters; Postal Service; Postmen; Post Office; Mail; Mailmen


AIR MAIL       
First Line: On the hunt for a letter-box
Last Line: No-one makes it his own
Subject(s): Letters; Postal Service


ALLEGRO    Poem Text    
First Line: I play haydn after a black day
Subject(s): Haydn, Joseph (1732-1809)


ALLEGRO       
First Line: I play hadyn after a black day


ALLEGRO       
First Line: After a black day, I play haydn
Last Line: But every pane of glass is still whole


ALLEGRO       
First Line: After a black day, I play haydn
Last Line: But every pane of glass is still whole


ALONE       
First Line: One evening in february I came near to dying here
Last Line: Everyone is queuing at everyone's door %many %one
Subject(s): Automobile Accidents


ALONG THE LINES       
First Line: Sun glints from the frozen river
Last Line: That paints them over


ANSWERS TO LETTERS       
First Line: In the bottom drawer of my desk I come across a letter that first arrived
Last Line: Mass of the endless text


APRIL AND SILENCE       
First Line: Spring lies abandoned
Last Line: At the pawnbroker's


ARTIST IN THE NORTH       
First Line: I, edvard grieg, moved free among men
Last Line: Fight to come alive


ARTIST IN THE NORTH       
First Line: I edvard grieg moved like a free man among men


AT FUNCHAL       
First Line: On the beach there's a seafood place, simple, a shack
Last Line: Book that can only be read in the dark


AT FUNCHAL       
First Line: On the beach there's a seafood place, simple, a shack thrown
Last Line: Grows over after every step. A book that can only be read in the dark


AUTUMN IN THE SKERRIES       
First Line: Suddenly, out walking, he meets the giant
Last Line: Froth across the shore


BALAKIREV'S DREAM       
First Line: The black grand piano, the shiny spider
Last Line: Droshkies wheeled by swiftly in the night


BALAKIREV'S DREAM: 1905       
First Line: The black grand piano, the gleamy spider
Last Line: Carriages for hire rolled swiftly through the night. %milij balakirev: 1837-1910 %russian composer


BALTICS       
First Line: It was before the time of radio masts
Last Line: With the light of all the people carried by the certain wave the certain %wind %our here to their fa


BELOW FREEZING       
First Line: We are at a party that doesn't love us
Last Line: The light grows as gradually as our hair


BELOW FREEZING       
First Line: We are at a party that doesn't love us. Finally the party lets the
Last Line: For. The light grows as gradually as our hair


BELOW ZERO    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Life


BERCEUSE    Poem Text    
First Line: I am a mummy at rest in the blue coffin of the forests
Last Line: See the cities beneath them glitterring like the gold of the goths
Subject(s): Airplane Accidents; Aviation & Aviators; Death; Travel; Air Crashes; Aeronautics - Accidents; Airplane Collisions; Dead, The; Journeys; Trips


BERCEUSE       
First Line: I am a mummy at rest in the blue coffin of the forests
Last Line: Will see the cities beneath them glittering like the gold of the goths
Subject(s): Airplane Accidents; Aviation And Aviators; Death; Travel


BLACK MOUNTAINS       
First Line: At the next bend the bus broke free of the mountain's cold shadow
Last Line: Up in the mountains the blue sea caught up with the sky


BLACK POSTCARDS    Poem Text    
First Line: The calendar full, future unknown
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


BLACK POSTCARDS       
First Line: The calendar full, future unknown
Last Line: Sewn in the silence
Subject(s): Death


BLACK POSTCARDS       
First Line: The calendar all booked up, the future unknown
Last Line: The visit. Life goes on. But someone is sewing %the suit in the silence


BLUE ANEMONES       
First Line: To be enchanted - nothing is easier. It is one of the oldest tricks
Last Line: Open a secret passage to the real celebration, which is quiet as death


BLUE WIND-FLOWERS       
First Line: To be spellbound -- nothing's easier.
Last Line: Real celebration, which is quiet as death


BOOKCASE       
First Line: It was brought from the dead woman's apartment
Last Line: And you must not turn your head away


BOOKCASE       
First Line: It was moved out of the apartment after her death. It stood
Last Line: River that the room has to see its own face in. And turning the %head is not allowed


BREATHING SPACE JULY    Poem Text    
First Line: The man who lies on his back under huge trees
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


BREATHING SPACE JULY       
First Line: The man who lies on his back under huge trees
Last Line: As the islands crawl like huge moths over the globe
Subject(s): Transience


BREATHING SPACE JULY       
First Line: The man who lies on his back under huge trees
Last Line: As the islands crawl like huge moths over the globe


BRIEF PAUSE IN THE ORGAN RECITAL       
First Line: The organ stops playing and it's deathly quiet in the church,
Last Line: A wake washes through the whole text, it's followed by the next wave, and %then the next


BY THE RIVER       
First Line: Talking with contemporaries I saw heard behind their faces
Last Line: Buried in the greenery -- only the horns %stuck up


C MAJOR       
First Line: When he came down to the street after the rendezvous
Last Line: Behind turned-up collars everyone was smiling


CALLING HOME       
First Line: A telephone call flowed out into the night, and it gleamed here
Last Line: He runs with heart pounding


CAPRICHOS       
First Line: Twilight in huelva: sooty palm trees
Last Line: A new constellation which I name 'the horse'


CARILLON       
First Line: Madame despises her guests because they want to stay at her shabby hotel
Last Line: Written, my preface to silence and my inside-out psalm


CITOYENS       
First Line: The night after the accident I dreamt of a pockmarked man
Last Line: The waiting-room where we all


CITOYENS       
First Line: The night after the accident I dreamt of a pockmarked man
Last Line: The waiting room where we all


CLEARING       
First Line: Deep in the forest there's an unexpected clearing which can be reached only
Last Line: Packed by an expert


CLEARING       
First Line: In the middle of the forest there's an unexpected clearing that
Last Line: As ingeniously as a parachute packed by an expert


CODEX       
First Line: The men of the footnotes, not the headlines
Last Line: That is taken in silence, to walk across the border and no one notices


COUPLE       
First Line: They turn the light off, and its white globe glows
Last Line: A mob of people with blank faces


COUPLE       
First Line: They turn the light off, and its white globe glows
Last Line: A mob of people with blank faces


CRESTS       
First Line: With a sigh the elevators start rising
Last Line: Swarm in the parks there ashore


CUCKOO       
First Line: A cuckoo sat cooing in a birch just north of the house. The sound
Last Line: Carry me just as loyally as susi and chuma carried livington's %mummified body all the way through a


CUCKOO       
First Line: A cuckoo sat cooing in a birch just north of the house. The
Last Line: Mified body all the way through africa


DARK SHAPE SWIMMING       
First Line: A stone age painting
Last Line: And join his shadow again


DECEMBER EVENING 1972       
First Line: Here I come, the invisible man, perhaps employed
Last Line: Against our work by day and against our beds by night. The war


DECEMBER EVENING, '72       
First Line: Here I come the invisible man, perhaps in the employ
Last Line: Pulling us toward work in the dark and the bed at night. The war


DEEP IN EUROPE    Poem Text    
First Line: I a dark hull floating between two lock-gates
Last Line: The blackened cathedral, heavy as a moon, causes ebbs and flows
Subject(s): Cities; Europe; Streets; Travel; Urban Life; Avenues; Journeys; Trips


DEEP IN EUROPE       
First Line: I a dark hull floating between two lock-gates
Last Line: The blackened cathedral, heavy as a moon, causes ebb and flow
Subject(s): Cities; Europe; Streets; Travel


DOWNPOUR OVER THE INTERIOR       
First Line: The rain is hammering on the car roofs
Last Line: Perhaps from inside himself


DREAM SEMINAR       
First Line: Four thousand million on earth
Last Line: And glances down on us


EARLY MAY STANZAS    Poem Text    
First Line: A may wood. The invisible removal load
Last Line: The load is burning with chilly flames
Subject(s): Birds; May (month); Poetry & Poets; Singing & Singers


EARLY MAY STANZAS       
First Line: A may wood. The invisible removal load
Last Line: The load is burning with chilly flames
Subject(s): Birds; May (month); Poetry And Poets; Singing And Singers


ELEGY       
First Line: I open the first door
Last Line: Experience, its beautiful slag


ELEGY       
First Line: At the starting point. Our spruce-clad coastline
Last Line: Where rollers break and ebb away, break %and ebb away


ELEGY       
First Line: I open the first door
Last Line: Experience, its beautiful slag


EPIGRAM    Poem Text    
First Line: The buildings of capital, the hives of the killer bees
Last Line: And flew when no one was looking. He had to have his life again
Subject(s): Life


EPIGRAM       
First Line: The buildings of capital, the hives of the killer bees
Last Line: And flew when no-one was looking. He had to live his life again
Subject(s): Epigram (as Literary Form); Life


EPIGRAM       
First Line: Buildings of capital, killer bee hives, honey for the few
Last Line: And flew when no one watched. He must live his live over


EPILOGUE       
First Line: December. Sweden is a hauled-up
Last Line: The lantern's slender beam is the signal


ESPRESSO       
First Line: Black coffee at sidewalk cafes
Last Line: The courage to open our eyes


EVENING - MORNING       
First Line: The moon-mast has rotted, and the sail crinkled
Last Line: Near the earth. Half-suffocated summer gods grope in the sea mist


FACE TO FACE       
First Line: In february living stood still
Last Line: The earth and I sprang towards each other


FEMALE PORTRAIT, 19TH CENTURY    Poem Text    
First Line: Her voice is stifled in the clothing. Her eyes
Subject(s): Pictures; Portraits


FEMALE PORTRAIT, 19TH CENTURY       
First Line: Her voice is stifled in the clothing. Her eyes
Last Line: A gilt frame %strangles the picture
Subject(s): Pictures; Portraits


FEW MINUTES       
First Line: The squat pine in the swamp holds up its crown: a dark rag
Last Line: As the brightly clad runners in a stadium where the darkness streams down


FEW MOMENTS       
First Line: The dwarf pine on marsh grounds holds its head up: a dark rag
Last Line: As the runners in white circling the track as the night comes misting in


FIRE SCRIPT       
First Line: During the heavy months my life caught fire only when
Last Line: We stole milk from the cosmos and survived


FIRESCRIBBLING       
First Line: During the siamal months, my life sparkled only when I made love with you
Last Line: By stealth we milked the cosmos and survived


FIRST WIND OF AUTUMN    Poem Text    
First Line: There is a wind blowing
Subject(s): Wind; Autumn; Fall


FIVE STANZAS TO THOREAU       
First Line: One more has fled the heavy city
Last Line: How to vanish deep into your own greenwood %crafty and hopeful


FOR MATS AND LAILA       
First Line: The international date line lies motionless between samoa and tonga
Last Line: Somebody keeps pulling on my arm each time I try to write


FOR MATS AND LAILA       
First Line: The international date line lies motionless between samoa
Last Line: Somebody keeps pulling on my arm each time I try to write


FORGOTTEN CAPTAIN       
First Line: We have many shadows. I was walking home
Last Line: That too is a game, made heavy %with what is to come
Subject(s): Battleships; Boats; Bombs; Death; Sailors And Sailing; Sea; War


FORGOTTEN COMMANDER       
First Line: We have lots of shadows. I was walking home
Last Line: From the weight of what is to come


FOUR TEMPERAMENTS       
First Line: The scanning eye turns sunbeams into billy clubs
Last Line: All the rolling wheels that contradict death


FROM AN AFRICAN DIARY (1963)    Poem Text    
First Line: In the painting of the kitsch congolese artists
Variant Title(s): An African Diary (1963), Sels
Subject(s): Diaries


FROM AN AFRICAN DIARY (1963)       
First Line: In the painting of the kitsch congolese artists
Last Line: The one who has arrived has a long way to go
Variant Title(s): An African Diary (1963), Sel
Subject(s): Diaries


FROM AN AFRICAN DIARY: 1963       
First Line: In the painting of the kitsch congolese artists
Last Line: The one who has arrived has a long way to go


FROM MARCH '79       
First Line: Tired of all who come with words, words but no language
Last Line: Language but no words


FROM MARCH 79       
First Line: Being tired of people who come with words, but no speech
Last Line: Speech but no words


FROM THE MOUNTAIN       
First Line: I stand on the mountain and look across the bay
Last Line: So say the white sails


FROM THE THAW OF 1966       
First Line: Headlong headlong waters; roaring; old hypnosis
Last Line: The bridge: a big iron bird sailing past death


FROM THE WINTER OF 1947       
First Line: Daytime at school: the somber swarming fortress
Last Line: Sent me each morning off to sleep


FROM THE WINTER, 1947       
First Line: In the daytimes in school the dull swarming fortress
Last Line: That rang me to sleep


FURTHER IN       
First Line: It's the main highway leading in
Last Line: Look at it - touch it


FURTHER IN       
First Line: It's the main highway leading in
Last Line: Look at it...Touch it


GALLERY       
First Line: I stopped over at a motel on e3
Last Line: It is his life, it is his labyrinth


GALLERY       
First Line: I stayed overnight at a motel by the e3
Last Line: It's his life, it's his labyrinth


GOGOL    Poem Text    
First Line: Jacket worn and shabby like a pack of wolves
Subject(s): Fireflies; Glowworms


GOGOL       
First Line: Jacket worn and shabby like a pack of wolves
Last Line: So mount your chariot of fire and leave the country
Subject(s): Fireflies


GOING WITH THE CURRENT       
First Line: Talking and talking with friends I saw heard behind their faces the current
Last Line: Buried in the bushes - only the horns stood up


GOLDEN WASP    Poem Text    
First Line: The blindworm that legless lizard flows along the porch step
Last Line: The dark bat has left my face and is scissoring around in summer's bright space
Subject(s): Insects; Bats


GOLDEN WASP       
First Line: The blindworm that legless lizard flows along the porch step
Last Line: The dark bat has left my face and is scissoring around in summer's bright space
Subject(s): Wasps


GRIEF GONDOLA #2       
First Line: Two old guys, father-in-law, liszt and wagner %live on the grand canal
Last Line: It was impossible to know which was the teacher


GUARD DUTY       
First Line: I'm order out to a big hump of stones
Last Line: One by one. I am the turnstile


GUARD DUTY       
First Line: I'm ordered out to a big hump of stones
Last Line: One by one. I am the turnstile


HALF-FINISHED HEAVEN       
First Line: Despondency breaks off its course
Last Line: The water is shining among the trees. %the lake is a window into the earth
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


HALF-FINISHED HEAVEN       
First Line: Cowardice breaks off on its path
Last Line: The lake is a window into the earth


HOMEWARDS    Poem Text    
First Line: A telephone call ran out in the night and glittered
Subject(s): Home


HOMEWARDS       
First Line: A telephone call ran out in the night and glittered
Last Line: With a thumping heart
Subject(s): Home


HOMMAGES       
First Line: Walked along the antipoetic wall
Last Line: White gulls were eating black cherries


HOW THE LATE AUTUMN NIGHT NOVEL BEGINS       
First Line: The ferryboat smells of oil and something rattles all the time
Last Line: Monsters which I love


HOW-THINGS-HANG-TOGETHER       
First Line: See that gray tree. The heavens have run
Last Line: Through the norns' blood and beyond


ICELANDIC HURRICANE    Poem Text    
First Line: No earth tremor, but a skyquake. Turner could have painted it, secured by rope
Subject(s): Hurricanes


ICELANDIC HURRICANE       
First Line: Not a shuddering of the earth but a skyquake.
Last Line: I sit behind the glass, still, my own portrait


IN THE NILE DELTA       
First Line: The young wife cried right in her food
Last Line: There is one who can see without hating


INDOORS IS ENDLESS       
First Line: It's spring in 1827, beethoven %hoists his death-mask and sails off
Last Line: The gentle downward slope gets steeper %and imperceptibly becomes an abyss
Subject(s): Beethoven, Ludwig Van (1770-1827); Composers; Death; Music And Musicians; Soul


INDOORS IS INFINITE       
First Line: It's the spring of 1827. Beethoven
Last Line: The gentle slope begins to fall away %and quietly transforms to abyss


ISLAND LIFE, 1860       
First Line: Down at the dock she was washing clothes one day
Last Line: This moment's wound that bleeds in for eternity


IZMIR AT THREE O'CLOCK    Poem Text    
First Line: Just ahead in the almost empty street
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


IZMIR AT THREE O'CLOCK       
First Line: Just ahead in the almost empty street
Last Line: The city lay crawling at the sea's door %gleaming in the vulture's telescopic sight
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


JOURNEY       
First Line: On the subway platform
Last Line: Have opened their windows


JOURNEY'S FORMULAE       
First Line: A murmur of voices behind the ploughman
Last Line: He travels, at the same time eagle and mole


KINGDOM OF UNCERTAINTY       
First Line: The department head leans forward and draws an x
Last Line: The mother turtle escapes flying under the water


KINGDOM OF UNCERTAINTY       
First Line: The department head leans forward and draws an x
Last Line: The mother turtle escapes flying under the water


KYRIE       
First Line: Sometimes my life opened its eyes in the dark
Last Line: And the doors of darkness open


KYRIE       
First Line: At times my life suddenly opens its eyes in the dark
Last Line: And the doors of darkness open


LAMENTO       
First Line: He put the pen down
Last Line: And pale telegrams from the world


LAMENTO       
First Line: He put the pen down
Last Line: Small pale telegrams from the world


LAMENTO       
First Line: He put down his pen
Last Line: Small pale telegrams from the world


LATE MAY       
First Line: Apple trees and cherry trees in flower help the town to float
Last Line: Not to forget, but to remember


LATE MAY       
First Line: Apple and cherry trees in bloom help the own to float
Last Line: Not to forget but to remember


LEAFLET       
First Line: The silent rage scribbles on the wall inwards
Last Line: And become milder and wilder than here
Subject(s): Leaves; Spring


LONELINESS    Poem Text    
First Line: One evening in february I came near to dying here
Subject(s): Solitude


MADRIGAL    Poem Text    
First Line: I inherited a dark wood where I seldom go. But a day will come when
Last Line: Shift on the clothesline
Subject(s): Spring


MADRIGAL       
First Line: I inherited a dark wood where I seldom go. But a day will come when
Last Line: And am as empty-handed %as the shirt on the washing-line
Subject(s): Spring


MAN AWAKENED BY A SONG ABOVE HIS ROOF       
First Line: Morning, may rain. The city is silent still
Last Line: To grope for the tool of his consciousness - %almost in space


MAN FROM BENIN       
First Line: When darkness fell I was still
Last Line: To see himself in me


MAN WHO AWOKE WITH SINGING OVER THE ROOFS       
First Line: Morning. May-rain. The city is still quiet
Last Line: Groping for attention's instruments -- almost in space


MEDIEVAL MOTIF       
First Line: Beneath our spell-binding play of faces there waits
Subject(s): Games; Poetry & Poets; Time; Recreation; Pastimes; Amusements


MEDIEVAL MOTIF       
First Line: Beneath our spell-binding play of faces there waits
Last Line: In the rainbow's silence
Subject(s): Games; Poetry And Poets; Time


MEMORIES WATCH ME       
First Line: A morning in june when it's too early yet
Last Line: Although the singing of birds is deafening


MIDNIGHT TURNING POINT       
First Line: Unmoving, the ant in the forest looks into
Last Line: A bird screams! At last. Slowly the cloud cart %begins to roll


MOLOKAI       
First Line: We stand at the edge of the cliff and in the depths beneath us gleam
Last Line: The face of the sphinx


MORNING AND ENTRANCE       
First Line: The black-backed gull, the sun-skipper, steers his course
Last Line: Upraised arms -- like a figure %from primitive art


MORNING BIRD SONGS       
First Line: I wake up my car; %pollen covers the windshield
Last Line: It has shoved me out of the nest. %the poem is finished


MORNING BIRDS       
First Line: I wake my car
Last Line: It throws me out of the nest


NAME       
First Line: I got sleepy while driving and pulled in under a tree at the side of the
Last Line: Nothingness, a few feet from a major highway where the cars slip past with %their lights on


NAME       
First Line: I got sleepy while driving and pulled in under a tree at the side
Last Line: Cars slip past with their lights on


NATIONAL INSECURITY    Poem Text    
First Line: The under secretary leans forward and draws an x
Subject(s): Politics & Government


NIGHT DUTY       
First Line: Tonight I am down among the ballast
Last Line: With his fist in front of him -- bell-ringing


NIGHT DUTY       
First Line: During the night I am down there with the ballast
Last Line: His fist thrown forward. Church bells


NIGHTINGALE IN BADELUNDA       
First Line: In the green midnight at the nightingale's northern limit
Last Line: The raw resonant notes that whet nthe night sky's gleaming scythe
Subject(s): Birds; Nightingales


NIGHTINGALE IN BADELUNDA       
First Line: In the gree midnight at the nightingale's northernmost
Last Line: The nightingale's voice, the raw vibrant tones that %whet the night sky's brilliant scythe


NINTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY       
First Line: He glances fitfully over the newspaper page
Last Line: Jihad! Two who shall never meet take charge of the world


NOCTURNE       
First Line: I drive through a village at night, the houses step out
Last Line: A large letter tries to get in without quite succeeding


NOCTURNE       
First Line: I drive through a village at night, the houses step out
Last Line: A large letter tries to get in without quite succeeding


NOVEMBER LUSTER OF PRECIOUS FURS       
First Line: Precisely because the sky is gray
Last Line: And flees into the forest like nils dacke


OKLAHOMA       
First Line: The train stalled far to the south. Snow in new york
Last Line: I let myself sink to my midpoint


ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF WORK       
First Line: In the middle of work
Last Line: And the mushrooms are as numerous as the stars


OPEN AND CLOSED ROOMS       
First Line: A man touches the world with his trade for a glove
Last Line: Stand still. %no, fly on
Subject(s): Gloves; Human Rights; Sky; Wind


OPEN AND CLOSED SPACE       
First Line: With his work, as with a glove, a man feels the universe
Last Line: Do not move. %no, they are moving


OPEN AND CLOSED SPACES       
First Line: A man feels the world with his work like a glove
Last Line: Are standing still %no, are flying


OPEN WINDOW       
First Line: I shaved one morning standing
Last Line: My sight was divided %like a horse's


OPEN WINDOW       
First Line: I shaved one morning standing
Last Line: My sight was divided %like a horse's


OUT IN THE OPEN       
First Line: Late autumn labyrinth
Last Line: Moving at tremendous speed


OUT IN THE OPEN       
First Line: Late autumn labyrinth
Last Line: Moving at tremendous speed


OUTPOST       
First Line: I'm ordered out in a heap of stones
Last Line: They want in. Why? They're coming %one by one. I am the turnstile
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


OUTSKIRTS    Poem Text    
First Line: Men in overalls the same color as earth rise from a ditch


OUTSKIRTS       
First Line: Men in overalls the same color as earth rise from a ditch
Last Line: Like the land bought with judas' silver: 'a potter's field for burying strangers'


OUTSKIRTS       
First Line: Men in overalls the same color as earth rise from a ditch
Last Line: Like the land bought with judas' silver: 'a potter's field for burying strangers.'


PALACE       
First Line: We went in. An enormous hall
Last Line: And I eat the silence here


PART OF THE FOREST       
First Line: On the way there a pair of frightened wings clattered up
Last Line: It's so mild in the forest


PLACE IN THE WOODS       
First Line: On the way there a couple of startled wings fluttered, and that
Last Line: Light around the terrifying trophies. Woods are mild that way


POSTLUDIUM       
First Line: I drag over the floor of the world like a grappling hook
Last Line: Through a forest of empty armor


PRELUDE    Poem Text    
First Line: Awakening is a parachute jump from the dream.
Subject(s): Skydiving


PRELUDE       
First Line: Awakening is a parachute jump from the dream
Last Line: Will light's great chute spread over his head


PRELUDES       
First Line: I flinch from something that shuffles slantwise through sleet
Last Line: Heard but the pigeons of the backyards, their cooings


PRELUDES       
First Line: I shy from something that comes scraping crossways through the blizzard
Last Line: Are the doves in the backyard, their cooing


REPLY TO A LETTER    Poem Text    
First Line: In the bottom drawer I find a letter which arrived for the first time twenty- six years ago
Subject(s): Letters; Time


ROMANESQUE ARCHES    Poem Text    
First Line: Inside the huge romanesque church the tourists jostled in the half-darkness
Last Line: And inside each of them vault opened behind vault endlessly
Subject(s): Churches; Rome, Italy; Tourists; Travel; Cathedrals; Journeys; Trips


ROMANESQUE ARCHES       
First Line: Inside the huge romanesque church the tourists jostled in the half-darkness
Last Line: And inside them all vault opened behind the vault endlessly
Subject(s): Churches; Rome, Italy; Tourists; Travel


ROMANESQUE ARCHES       
First Line: Tourists have crowded into the half-dark of the enormous
Last Line: Within each of them vault after vault opened endlessly


SAILOR'S YARN       
First Line: There are bare winter days when the sea is kin
Last Line: To the music of those frozen to death


SCATTERED CONGREGATION       
First Line: We got ready and showed our home
Last Line: Don't know. But that's where we're going
Subject(s): Churches; Men


SCATTERED CONGREGATION       
First Line: We got ready and showed our home
Last Line: Don't know. But that's where we're going


SCHUBERTIANA       
First Line: In the evening darkness at a place outside new york, an outlook where
Last Line: The persistent humming that follows us this very moment %up %the depths


SCHUBERTIANA       
First Line: Outside new york, a high place where with one glance you
Last Line: The stubborn humming sound that this instant is with us %upward into %the depths


SECRETS ON THE WAY       
First Line: Daylight struck the face of a man who slept
Last Line: Its impatient brushes were painting the world


SEEING THROUGH THE GROUND       
First Line: The white sun melts away in the smog
Last Line: Cockpits and into peapods


SEEING THROUGH THE GROUND       
First Line: The white sun melts away in the smog
Last Line: Cockpits and into peapods


SIESTA       
First Line: Whitsuntide of the stones. And with crackling tongues
Last Line: Eternity's lock-up and pounding fists


SIX WINTERS    Poem Text    
First Line: In the black hotel a child is asleep
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Memory; War; Graveyards; Dead, The


SIX WINTERS       
First Line: In the black hotel a child is asleep
Last Line: On the way home. Bewitched avenue
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Memory; War


SKETCH IN OCTOBER       
First Line: The towboat is freckled with rust. What's it doing here so far inland
Last Line: We are the earth's


SKETCH IN OCTOBER       
First Line: The towboat is freckled with rust. What's it doing here so far inland?
Last Line: We are the earth's


SLOW MUSIC       
First Line: The building is closed. The sun crowds in through
Last Line: Stones which slowly migrated backwards up %out of the waves


SLOW MUSIC       
First Line: The building not open today. The sun crowds in through the windowpanes
Last Line: The stones have been gradually walking backwards out of the sea


SNOW-MELTING TIME, '66       
First Line: Massive waters fall, water-roar, the old hypnosis
Last Line: I am on a large iron bird sailing past death


SOLITARY SWEDISH HOUSES       
First Line: A tangle of black spruce
Last Line: Coiled up in the dark


SOLITUDE    Poem Text    
First Line: Right here I was nearly killed one night in february
Subject(s): Automobile Accidents; Solitude; Loneliness


SOLITUDE       
First Line: Right here I was nearly killed one night in february
Last Line: Millions. %one
Subject(s): Automobile Accidents; Solitude


SOLITUDE       
First Line: Right here I was nearly killed one night in february
Last Line: We all line up to ask each other for help. %millions. %one


STANDING UP       
First Line: In a split second of hard thought, I managed to catch her.
Last Line: Precisely: rhetoric is impossible here. The canoe glides ou t over the water


STANDING UP       
First Line: In a split second of hard thought, I managed to catch her. I
Last Line: Hind. Precisely: rhetoric is impossible here. The canoe glides out over the water


START OF A LATE AUTUMN NOVEL       
First Line: The boat has the smell of oil, and something whirrs all the time
Last Line: With faces. The forest is full of monsters that I love left behind %when the ship sailed


STATION       
First Line: A train has rolled in. Carriage after carriage stands
Last Line: Everything is singing. You will remember this. Proceed


STONES       
First Line: Stones that we have thrown I hear
Last Line: To no bottom %except within ourselves


STORM    Poem Text    
First Line: The man on a walk suddenly meets the old
Subject(s): Storms


STORM       
First Line: Suddenly, here, the wanderer meets the ancient
Last Line: Constellations stamping in their stables high over oak tree


STORM       
First Line: The man on a walk suddenly meets the old
Last Line: Hears the constellations far above the oak %stamping in their stalls


STREET CROSSING       
First Line: Cold winds hit my eyes, and two or three suns
Last Line: But for a second I am lit. It sees me


STREET CROSSING       
First Line: Cold wind hits my eyes, and two or three suns
Last Line: But for a second I am lit. It sees me


STREETS IN SHANGHAI    Poem Text    
First Line: The white butterfly in the park is read by many
Last Line: Wounds we don't know about
Subject(s): Shanghai, China


STREETS IN SHANGHAI       
First Line: Many in the park are reading the white butterfly
Last Line: We know nothing about


STREETS IN SHANGHAI       
First Line: The white butterlfy in the park is read by many
Last Line: We look almost happy out in the sun, while we are bleeding fatally from %wounds we don't know about
Subject(s): Ferry Boats; Shanghai, China; Travel


STROPHE AND ANTISTROPHE       
First Line: The outermost circle is the myth's. There the helmsman sinks upright
Last Line: Travels over the snow %reaches the woods


SUMMER GRASS       
First Line: So much has happened
Last Line: I go and check in


SUMMER MEADOW       
First Line: There's so much we must be witness to
Last Line: I report to him


SWIMMING DARK FITURE       
First Line: A prehistoric painting
Last Line: And be one with his own shadow


SYROS    Poem Text    
First Line: In syros' harbor leftover cargo steamers lay waiting
Subject(s): Ships - Abandoning Of; Syros Island, Greece


SYROS       
First Line: In syros' harbor abandoned merchant ships lay idle
Last Line: What a powerful fleet, what splendid connections
Subject(s): Ships - Abandoning Of; Syros Island, Greece


THE BLUE HOUSE    Poem Text    
First Line: It is night with glaring sunshine. I stand in the woods and look towards my hous
Subject(s): Houses; Time


THE COUPLE    Poem Text    
First Line: The under secretary leans forward and draws an x
Subject(s): Love


THE FORGOTTEN CAPTAIN    Poem Text    
First Line: We have many shadows. I was walking home
Subject(s): Battleships; Boats; Bombs; Death; Sailing & Sailors; Sea; War; Dead, The; Ocean


THE HALF-FINISHED HEAVEN    Poem Text    
First Line: Cowardice breaks off its path
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


THE INDOORS IS ENDLESS    Poem Text    
First Line: It's spring in 1827, beethoven / hoists his death-mask and sails off
Subject(s): Beethoven, Ludwig Van (1770-1827); Composers; Death; Music & Musicians; Soul; Dead, The


THE NIGHTINGALE IN BADELUNDA    Poem Text    
First Line: In the green midnight at the nightingale's northern limit
Subject(s): Birds; Nightingales


THE OUTPOST    Poem Text    
First Line: I'm ordered out in a heap of stones
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


THE SCATTERED CONGREGATION    Poem Text    
First Line: We got ready and showed our home
Subject(s): Churches; Men; Cathedrals


THERE IS PEACE IN THE SURGING BOW       
First Line: On a winter morning you feel how this earth
Last Line: Insect wings above your head


THREE STANZAS       
First Line: The knight and his lady
Last Line: And swordbelts rusting


THROUGH THE FOREST       
First Line: A spot they call jacob's marsh
Last Line: Is drinking the shadow of the rain


TO FRIENDS BEHIND A FRONTIER    Poem Text    
First Line: I wrote so meagerly to you. But what I couldn't write
Subject(s): Freedom; Letters; Liberty


TO FRIENDS BEHIND A FRONTIER       
First Line: I wrote so meagerly to you. But what I couldn't write
Last Line: And can at last sleep, become trilobites
Subject(s): Freedom; Letters


TRACK       
First Line: 2 a.M.: moonlight. The train has stopped
Last Line: 2 o'clock: strong moonlight, few stars


TRACKS    Poem Text    
First Line: Night, two o'clock: moonlight. The train has stopped
Variant Title(s): Track
Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains


TRACKS       
First Line: Night, two o'clock: moonlight. The train has stopped
Last Line: Two o'clock: full moonlight, few stars
Variant Title(s): Trac
Subject(s): Railroads


TRAFFIC       
First Line: The long-distance truck with its trailer pushes through fog
Last Line: Breaks and is mended again, over and over


TRAFFIC       
First Line: The semitrailer crawls through the fog
Last Line: The chain breaks and grows back together all the time


TREE AND THE SKY       
First Line: The tree is walking around in the rain
Last Line: When snowflakes will throw themselves out in space


TWO CITIES    Poem Text    
First Line: There is a stretch of water, a city on each side
Subject(s): Swimming & Swimmers


TWO CITIES       
First Line: There is a stretch of water, a city on each side
Last Line: It's a friend's voice; 'take up your grave and walk


UNDER PRESSURE    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Solitude; Loneliness


UNDER PRESSURE       
First Line: The blue sky's engine-drone is deafening
Last Line: Society's dark hull drifts further and further away


UNDER PRESSURE       
First Line: Powerful engines from the blue sky
Last Line: The dark hull of society keeps on going


VERMEER    Poem Text    
First Line: No protected world - just behind the wall the noise begins
Last Line: I am not empty, I am open
Subject(s): Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675); Walls


VERMEER       
First Line: No sheltered world - on the other side of the wall the noise begins
Last Line: I am not empty, I am open


VERMEER       
First Line: No protected world - just behind the wall the noise begins
Last Line: I am not empty, I am open
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


VERMEER       
First Line: It's not a sheltered world. The noise begins over there, on the
Last Line: I am not empty, I am open.'


WEATHER PICTURE       
First Line: The october sea glistens coldly
Last Line: The tree and drops of its own accord


WINTER NIGHT       
First Line: The storm puts its mouth to the house
Last Line: That the storm will blow us empty


WINTER NIGHT       
First Line: The storm puts its lips to the house
Last Line: The storm will blow everything inside us away


WINTER'S FORMULAE       
First Line: I went to sleep in my bed
Last Line: The whole world would be obliterated


WINTER'S GAZE    Poem Text    
First Line: I lean like a ladder and with my face
Subject(s): Winter


WINTER'S GAZE       
First Line: I lean like a ladder and with my face
Last Line: And a weak light falls. %we look up: the starry sky through the grating
Subject(s): Scottish Translations


WINTER'S GLANCE       
First Line: Like a ladder I lean over and put
Last Line: We look upwards, the starry sky through the grating of the sewer