Feasts

Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)



I drink the gall of skies in autumn, tuberoses'
Sweet bitterness in your betrayals burning stream;
I drink the gall of nights, of crowded parties' noises,
Of sobbing virgin verse, and of a throbbing dream.

We fiends of studious fight a battle everlasting
Against our daily bread - can't stand the sober mood.
The troubled wind of nights is merely a toastmaster
Whose toasts, as like as not, will do no one much good.

Heredity and death are our guests at table.
A quiet dawn will paint bright-red the tops of trees.
An anapaest, like mice, will on the bread-plate scrabble,
And Cinderella will rush in to change her dress.

The floors have all been swept, and everything is dainty,
And like a child's sweet kiss, breathes quietly my verse,
And Cinderella flees-by cab on days of plenty,
And on shanks' pony when the last small coin is lost.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
61

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB XXXX CACA DADX
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 846
Words 151
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Boris Pasternak

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator. more…

All Boris Pasternak poems | Boris Pasternak Books

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    Lewis Carroll wrote: "You are old father William, the young man said..."
    A "and your hair has become very white"
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    D "and you're going to die tonight"