Here a riddle has drawn a strange nailmark

Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)



Here a riddle has drawn a strange nailmark. To sleep now!
I'll reread, understand with the light of the sun,
But until I am wakened, to touch the beloved
As I do has been given to none.

How I touched you! So touched were you even by the copper
Of my lips, as an audience is touched by a play,
And the kiss was like summer; it lingered and lingered,
Only later the thunderstorm came.

And I drank in long draughts, like the birds, half-unconscious.
The stars trickle slowly through the throat to the crop,
While the nightingales roll up their eyes in a shudder
From the firmament draining the night drop by drop.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
102

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA BXXX XCBC
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 607
Words 116
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 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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    "Here a riddle has drawn a strange nailmark" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/4491/here-a-riddle-has-drawn-a-strange-nailmark>.

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