English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Love Lies Sleeping. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Love Lies Sleeping Earliest morning, switching all the tracks that cross the sky from cinder star to star, coupling the ends of streets to trains of light. now draw us into daylight in our beds; and clear away what presses on […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Lullaby for the Cat. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Lullaby for the Cat Minnow, go to sleep and dream, Close your great big eyes; Round your bed Events prepare The pleasantest surprise. Darling Minnow, drop that frown, Just cooperate, Not a kitten shall be drowned In the Marxist State. Joy and […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. The Fish. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) The Fish I caught a tremendous fish and held him beside the boat half out of water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth. He didn’t fight. He hadn’t fought at all. He hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable and […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Songs for a Colored Singer. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Songs for a Colored Singer I A washing hangs upon the line, but it’s not mine. None of the things that I can see belong to me. The neighbors got a radio with an aerial; we got a little portable. They got a […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Visits to St. Elizabeths. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Visits to St. Elizabeths This is the house of Bedlam. This is the man that lies in the house of Bedlam. This is the time of the tragic man that lies in the house of Bedlam. This is a wristwatch telling […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Five Flights Up. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Five Flights Up Still dark. The unknown bird sits on his usual branch. The little dog next door barks in his sleep inquiringly, just once. Perhaps in his sleep, too, the bird inquires once or twice, quavering. Questions–if that is what they are– answered […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Roosters. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Roosters At four o’clock in the gun-metal blue dark we hear the first crow of the first cock just below the gun-metal blue window and immediately there is an echo off in the distance, then one from the backyard fence, then one, […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Manuelzinho. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Manuelzinho Half squatter, half tenant (no rent)— a sort of inheritance; white, in your thirties now, and supposed to supply me with vegetables, but you don’t; or you won’t; or you can’t get the idea through your brain— the world’s worst gardener since […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Giant Toad. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Giant Toad I am too big. Too big by far. Pity me. My eyes bulge and hurt. They are my one great beauty, even so. They see too much, above, below. And yet, there is not much to see. The […]
English Poetry. Robert Louis Stevenson. A Child’s Garden of Verses. The Child Alone. 3. My Kingdom. Роберт Льюис Стивенсон. Детский сад стихов. Ребёнок, играющий один. 3. Моё королевство
Robert Louis Stevenson (Роберт Льюис Стивенсон) A Child’s Garden of Verses. The Child Alone. 3. My Kingdom Down by a shining water well I found a very little dell, No higher than my head. The heather and the gorse about In summer bloom were coming out, Some […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Cirque D’Hiver. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Cirque D’Hiver Across the floor flits the mechanical toy, fit for a king of several centuries back. A little circus horse with real white hair. His eyes are glossy black. He bears a little dancer on his back. She stands upon her […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Cape Breton. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Cape Breton Out on the high ”bird islands,” Ciboux and Hertford, the razorbill auks and the silly-looking puffins all stand with their backs to the mainland in solemn, uneven lines along the cliff’s brown grass-frayed edge, while the few […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Arrival at Santos. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Arrival at Santos Here is a coast; here is a harbor; here, after a meager diet of horizon, is some scenery: impractically shaped and–who knows?–self-pitying mountains, sad and harsh beneath their frivolous greenery, with a little church on top of […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. The Burglar of Babylon. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) The Burglar of Babylon On the fair green hills of Rio There grows a fearful stain: The poor who come to Rio And can’t go home again. On the hills a million people, A million sparrows, nest, Like a confused migration That’s had […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Strayed Crab. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Strayed Crab This is not my home. How did I get so far from water? It must be over that way somewhere. I am the color of wine, of tinta. The inside of my powerful right claw is saffron-yellow. See, […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. To Be Written on the Mirror in Whitewash. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) To Be Written on the Mirror in Whitewash I live only here, between your eyes and you, But I live in your world. What do I do? –Collect no interest–otherwise what I can; Above all I am not that staring man. […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. A Prodigal. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) A Prodigal The brown enormous odor he lived by was too close, with its breathing and thick hair, for him to judge. The floor was rotten; the sty was plastered halfway up with glass-smooth dung. Light-lashed, self-righteous, above moving snouts, the pigs’ eyes […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Sleeping on the Ceiling. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Sleeping on the Ceiling It is so peaceful on the ceiling! It is the Place de la Concorde. The little crystal chandelier is off, the fountain is in the dark. Not a soul is in the park. Below, where the wallpaper is peeling, […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress Moving from left to left, the light is heavy on the Dome, and coarse. One small lunette turns it aside and blankly stares off to the side like a big white old wall-eyed horse. […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Rain Towards Morning. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Rain Towards Morning The great light cage has broken up in the air, freeing, I think, about a million birds whose wild ascending shadows will not be back, and all the wires come falling down. No cage, no frightening […]
English Poetry. Robert Louis Stevenson. Henry James. Роберт Льюис Стивенсон.
Robert Louis Stevenson (Роберт Льюис Стивенсон) Henry James Who comes to-night? We open the doors in vain. Who comes? My bursting walls, can you contain The presences that now together throng Your narrow entry, as with flowers and song, As with the air of life, the breath of […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Poem. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Poem About the size of an old-style dollar bill, American or Canadian, mostly the same whites, gray greens, and steel grays –this little painting (a sketch for a larger one?) has never earned any money in its life. Useless and free, it has […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. O Breath. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) O Breath Beneath that loved and celebrated breast, silent, bored really blindly veined, grieves, maybe lives and lets live, passes bets, something moving but invisibly, and with what clamor why restrained I cannot fathom even a ripple. (See the thin flying of nine […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Conversation. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Conversation The tumult in the heart keeps asking questions. And then it stops and undertakes to answer in the same tone of voice. No one could tell the difference. Uninnocent, these conversations start, and then engage […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Anaphora. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Anaphora In memory of Marjorie Carr Stevens Each day with so much ceremony begins, with birds, with bells, with whistles from a factory; such white-gold skies our eyes first open on, such brilliant walls that for a moment we wonder ”Where […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. At the Fishhouses. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) At the Fishhouses Although it is a cold evening, down by one of the fishhouses an old man sits netting, his net, in the gloaming almost invisible, a dark purple-brown, and his shuttle worn and polished. The air smells so strong of codfish it […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. The Armadillo. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) The Armadillo For Robert Lowell This is the time of year when almost every night the frail, illegal fire balloons appear. Climbing the mountain height, rising toward a saint still honored in these parts, the paper chambers flush and fill […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. The Bight. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) The Bight [On my birthday] At low tide like this how sheer the water is. White, crumbling ribs of marl protrude and glare and the boats are dry, the pilings dry as matches. Absorbing, rather than being absorbed, the water in […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. The Unbeliever. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) The Unbeliever He sleeps on the top of a mast. – Bunyan He sleeps on the top of a mast with his eyes fast closed. The sails fall away below him like the sheets of his bed, leaving out in the […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Sonnet (Caught – the bubble). Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Sonnet (Caught – the bubble) Caught – the bubble in the spirit level, a creature divided; and the compass needle wobbling and wavering, undecided. Freed – the broken thermometer’s mercury running away; and the rainbow-bird from the narrow bevel of the empty mirror, flying […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. The Map. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) The Map Land lies in water; it is shadowed green. Shadows, or are they shallows, at its edges showing the line of long sea-weeded ledges where weeds hang to the simple blue from green. Or does the land lean down to lift the […]
English Poetry. Robert Louis Stevenson. Come from the Daisied Meadows. Роберт Льюис Стивенсон.
Robert Louis Stevenson (Роберт Льюис Стивенсон) Come from the Daisied Meadows HOME from the daisied meadows, where you linger yet - Home, golden-headed playmate, ere the sun is set; For the dews are falling fast And the night has come at last. Home with you, home and lay […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. First Death in Nova Scotia. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) First Death in Nova Scotia In the cold, cold parlor my mother laid out Arthur beneath the chromographs: Edward, Prince of Wales, with Princess Alexandra, and King George with Queen Mary. Below them on the table stood a stuffed loon shot and stuffed by […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Questions of Travel. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Questions of Travel There are too many waterfalls here; the crowded streams hurry too rapidly down to the sea, and the pressure of so many clouds on the mountaintops makes them spill over the sides in soft slow-motion, turning […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. In the Waiting Room. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) In the Waiting Room In Worcester, Massachusetts, I went with Aunt Consuelo to keep her dentist’s appointment and sat and waited for her in the dentist’s waiting room. It was winter. It got dark early. The waiting room was full of grown-up people, arctics […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Filling Station. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Filling Station Oh, but it is dirty! –this little filling station, oil-soaked, oil-permeated to a disturbing, over-all black translucency. Be careful with that match! Father wears a dirty, oil-soaked monkey suit that cuts him under the arms, and several quick and […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. Sestina. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) Sestina September rain falls on the house. In the failing light, the old grandmother sits in the kitchen with the child beside the Little Marvel Stove, reading the jokes from the almanac, laughing and talking to hide her tears. She thinks that […]
English Poetry. Elizabeth Bishop. One Art. Элизабет Бишоп.
Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп) One Art The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The […]
English Poetry. Jane Austen. When Winchester Races. Джейн Остин.
Jane Austen (Джейн Остин) When Winchester Races When Winchester races first took their beginning It is said the good people forgot their old Saint Not applying at all for the leave of Saint Swithin And that William of Wykeham’s approval was faint. The races however were […]
English Poetry. Jane Austen. This Little Bag. Джейн Остин.
Jane Austen (Джейн Остин) This Little Bag This little bag I hope will prove To be not vainly made– For, if you should a needle want It will afford you aid. And as we are about to part T’will serve another end, For when you look upon […]