Poems List
Explore poems from our collection
Storm-Wind
Storm-Wind
I am finished, but you live on.
And the wind, crying and moaning,
rocks the house and the clearing,
not each pine alone,
but…
Swifts (2)
Swifts (2)
At twilight the swifts have no power,
to hold back that pale blue coolness.
It bursts from throats, a clamour
an outpour that can’t grow…
Spring (Fragment 3)
Spring (Fragment 3)
Is it only dirt you notice?
Does the thaw not catch your glance?
As a dapple-grey fine stallion
Does it not through ditches dan…
Stars were racing
Stars were racing
Stars were racing; waves were washing headlands.
Salt went blind, and tears were slowly drying.
Darkened were the bedrooms; thoughts we…
Spasskoe
Spasskoe
In Spasskoe, unforgettable September sheds its leaves.
Isn’t it time to close up the summer-house?
Echo traps the thudding of axe-blows in…
Soul
Soul
My mournful soul, you, sorrowing
For all my friends around,
You have become the burial vault
Of all those hounded down.
Railway Station
Railway Station
My dear railway station, my treasure
Of meetings and partings, my friend
In times of hard trials and pleasure,
Your favours have be…
So they begin. With two years gone...
So they begin. With two years gone...
So they begin. With two years gone
From nurse to countless tunes they scuttle.
They chirp and whistle. Then comes o…
Out of Superstition
Out of Superstition
A box of glazed sour fruit compact,
My narrow room.
And oh the grime of lodging rooms
This side the tomb!
Thi…
Ploughing Time
Ploughing Time
What is the matter with the landscape?
Familiar landmarks are not there.
Ploughed fields, like squares upon a chessboard,
Today are …
On Early Trains
On Early Trains
This winter I was outside Moscow,
But when the time for work came round,
Through the blizzard, biting frost and snow,
I made the jo…
Oh terrible, beloved! A poet's loving
Oh terrible, beloved! A poet's loving
Oh terrible, beloved! A poet's loving
Is a restless god's passionate rage,
And chaos out into the world comes creep…
Nostalgia
Nostalgia
To give this book a dedication
The desert sickened,
And lions roared, and dawns of tigers
Took hold of Kipling.
A…
My desk is not so wide that I might lean
My desk is not so wide that I might lean
My desk is not so wide that I might lean
Against the edge and reach out past the shell
Of board and glass, beyon…
Mary Magdalene I
Mary Magdalene I
As soon as night descends, we meet.
Remorse my memories releases.
The demons of the past compete,
And draw and tear my heart to pi…
Meeting
Meeting
The snow will dust the roadway,
And load the roofs still more.
I'll stretch my legs a little:
You're there outside the door.
March
March
The sun is hotter than the top ledge in a steam bath;
The ravine, crazed, is rampaging below.
Spring -- that corn-fed, husky milkmaid --
Lessons of English
Lessons of English
When Desdemona sang a ditty-
In her last hours among the living-
It wasn't love that she lamented,
And not her star-she mourned a …
It's spring, I leave a street where poplars...
It's spring, I leave a street where poplars...
It's spring, I leave a street where poplars are astonished,
Where distance is alarmed and the house fears it may…
Intoxication
Intoxication
Under osiers with ivy ingrown
We are trying to hide from bad weather.
I am clasping your arms in my own,
In one cloak we are hud…
In everything I seek to grasp...
In everything I seek to grasp...
In everything I seek to grasp
The fundamental:
The daily choice, the daily task,
The sentimental.
In Memory of Marina Tsvetaeva
In Memory of Marina Tsvetaeva
Dismal day, with the weather inclement.
Inconsolably rivulets run
Down the porch in front of the doorway;
Through my …
Imitators
Imitators
A boat came in; the cliff was baked;
The noisy boat-chain fell and clanked on
The sand-an iron rattle-snake,
A rattling rust among …
I hang limp on the Creator's pen
I hang limp on the Creator's pen
I hang limp on the Creator's pen
Like a large drop of lilac gloss-paint.
Underneath are dykes' secrets; the …