Song For The Last Act
Louise Bogan 1897 (Livermore Falls) – 1970 (New York City)
Now that I have your face by heart, I look
Less at its features than its darkening frame
Where quince and melon, yellow as young flame,
Lie with quilled dahlias and the shepherd's crook.
Beyond, a garden, There, in insolent ease
The lead and marble figures watch the show
Of yet another summer loath to go
Although the scythes hang in the apple trees.
Now that I have your face by heart, I look.
Now that I have your voice by heart, I read
In the black chords upon a dulling page
Music that is not meant for music's cage,
Whose emblems mix with words that shake and bleed.
The staves are shuttled over with a stark
Unprinted silence. In a double dream
I must spell out the storm, the running stream.
The beat's too swift. The notes shift in the dark.
Now that I have your voice by heart, I read.
Now that I have your heart by heart, I see
The wharves with their great ships and architraves;
The rigging and the cargo and the slaves
On a strange beach under a broken sky.
O not departure, but a voyage done!
The bales stand on the stone; the anchor weeps
Its red rust downward, and the long vine creeps
Beside the salt herb, in the lengthening sun.
Now that I have your heart by heart, I see.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 103 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | Abbacddc A Effxghhg E Ijjxkllk I |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,173 |
Words | 231 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 1, 8, 1, 8, 1 |
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"Song For The Last Act" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/26140/song-for-the-last-act>.
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