Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ZALINKA, by TOM MACINNES Poet's Biography First Line: Last night in a land of triangles Last Line: Slept with her hands in my hair. Subject(s): Admiration; Man-woman Relationships; Sleep; Male-female Relations | ||||||||
1 Last night in a land of triangles, I lay in a cubicle, where A girl in pyjamas and bangles Slept with her hands in my hair. 2 I wondered if either or neither Of us were properly there, Being subject to queer aberrations Astral and thin aberrations Which leave me no base to compare: No adequate base to compare: But her hands, with their wristful of bangles, Were certainly fast in my hair, While the moon made pallid equations Thro' a delicate window there. 3 I was glad that she slept for I never Can tell what the finish will be: What enamoured, nocturnal endeavor May end in the killing of me: But, in the moonlit obscure Of that silken, somniferous lair, Like a poet consumed with a far lust Of things unapproachably fair I fancied her body of stardust Pounded of spices and stardust Out of the opulent air. 4 Then the moon, with its pale liquidations, Fell across her in argentine bars, And I thought: This is finebut to-morrow What cut of Dawn's cold scimitars Will sever my hold on this creature I mean of this creature on me? Amorous creature of exquisite aura Marvel of dark glamourie. 5 What joy of folly then followed Is beyond my expression in rhyme: And I do not expect you to grasp it When I speak of expansions of time: Of reaching and zooming serenely As it were at right angles to time: Knowing well you will think, on your level, This was only a dream indiscreet Or experience quite indiscreet: But little I care, in this instance, What you do or do not think discreet: O utterance futile, but sweet, Like a parrot I pause and repeat, In delight of my own, and for nothing, To myself I repeat and repeat: 6 Last night in a land of triangles, I lay in a cubicle where A girl in pyjamas and bangles Slept with her hands in my hair. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MISERY AND SPLENDOR by ROBERT HASS THE APPLE TREES AT OLEMA by ROBERT HASS DOUBLE SONNET by ANTHONY HECHT CONDITIONS XXI by ESSEX HEMPHILL CALIFORNIA SORROW: MOUNTAIN VIEW by MARY KINZIE SUPERBIA: A TRIUMPH WITH NO TRAIN by MARY KINZIE COUNSEL TO UNREASON by LEONIE ADAMS TWENTY QUESTIONS by DAVID LEHMAN |
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