Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
The Burglar Of Babylon
On the fair green hills of RioThere grows a fearful stain:The poor who come to RioAnd can't go home again.On the hills a million people,A million..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Rain Towards Morning
The great light cage has broken up in the air,freeing, I think, about a million birdswhose wild ascending shadows will not be back,and all the wires..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Visits To St Elizabeths
This is the house of Bedlam.This is the manthat lies in the house of Bedlam.This is the timeof the tragic manthat lies in the house of Bedlam.This is..
© Elizabeth Bishop
While Someone Telephones
Wasted, wasted minutes that couldn't be worse,minutes of a barbaric condescension.--Stare out the bathroom window at the fir-trees,at their dark..
© Elizabeth Bishop
North Haven
In Memoriam: Robert LowellI can make out the rigging of a schoonera mile off; I can countthe new cones on the spruce. It is so stillthe pale bay..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Weed
I dreamed that dead, and meditating,I lay upon a grave, or bed,(at least, some cold and close-built bower).In the cold heart, its final thoughtstood..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Man-Moth
Here, above,cracks in the buldings are filled with battered moonlight.The whole shadow of Man is only as big as his hat.It lies at his feet like a..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Monument
Now can you see the monument? It is of woodbuilt somewhat like a box. No. Builtlike several boxes in descending sizesone above the other.Each is..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Colder The Air
We must admire her perfect aim,this huntress of the winter airwhose level weapon needs no sight,if it were not that everywhereher game is sure, her..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The End Of March
For John Malcolm Brinnin and Bill Read: DuxburyIt was cold and windy, scarcely the dayto take a walk on that long beachEverything was withdrawn as..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Armadillo
For Robert LowellThis is the time of yearwhen almost every nightthe frail, illegal fire balloons appear.Climbing the mountain height,rising toward a..
© Elizabeth Bishop
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..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Invitation To Miss Marianne Moore
From Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn Bridge, on this fine morning, please come flying.In a cloud of fiery pale chemicals, please come flying,to..
© Elizabeth Bishop
O Breath
Beneath that loved and celebrated breast,silent, bored really blindly veined,grieves, maybe lives and letslive, passes bets,something..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Unbeliever
He sleeps on the top of a mast. - BunyanHe sleeps on the top of a mastwith his eyes fast closed.The sails fall away below himlike the sheets of his..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Shampoo
The still explosions on the rocks,the lichens, growby spreading, gray, concentric shocks.They have arrangedto meet the rings around the moon..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Seascape
This celestial seascape, with white herons got up as angels,flying high as they want and as far as they want sidewisein tiers and tiers of immaculate..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Imaginary Iceberg
We'd rather have the iceberg than the ship,although it meant the end of travel.Although it stood stock-still like cloudy rockand all the sea were..
© Elizabeth Bishop
The Bight
At low tide like this how sheer the water is.White, crumbling ribs of marl protrude and glareand the boats are dry, the pilings dry as..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Sandpiper
The roaring alongside he takes for granted,and that every so often the world is bound to shake.He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward,in a..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Lullaby For The Cat
Minnow, go to sleep and dream,Close your great big eyes;Round your bed Events prepareThe pleasantest surprise.Darling Minnow, drop that frown,Just..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Casabianca
Love's the boy stood on the burning decktrying to recite `The boy stood onthe burning deck.' Love's the sonstood stammering elocutionwhile the..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Manners
For a Child of 1918My grandfather said to meas we sat on the wagon seat,"Be sure to remember to alwaysspeak to everyone you meet."We met a stranger..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Letter To N.Y.
For Louise CraneIn your next letter I wish you'd saywhere you are going and what you are doing;how are the plays and after the playswhat other..
© Elizabeth Bishop
Large Bad Picture
Remembering the Strait of Belle Isle orsome northerly harbor of Labrador,before he became a schoolteachera great-uncle painted a big picture.Receding..
© Elizabeth Bishop