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").

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

Little Exercise

For Thomas Edwards WanningThink of the storm roaming the sky uneasilylike a dog looking for a place to sleep in,listen to it growling.Think how they..

© Elizabeth Bishop

The Map

Land lies in water; it is shadowed green.Shadows, or are they shallows, at its edgesshowing the line of long sea-weeded ledgeswhere weeds hang to the..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Song For The Rainy Season

Hidden, oh hiddenin the high fogthe house we live in,beneath the magnetic rock,rain-, rainbow-ridden,where blood-blackbromelias, lichens,owls, and..

© Elizabeth Bishop

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..

© Elizabeth Bishop

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..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Giant Toad

I am too big. Too big by far. Pity me.My eyes bulge and hurt. They are my one great beauty, evenso. They see too much, above, below. And yet, there..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Lines Written In The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

[Given to Frank Bidart]You won't become a gourmet* cookBy studying our Fannie's book--Her thoughts on Food & Keeping HouseAre scarcely those of..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Questions Of Travel

There are too many waterfalls here; the crowded streamshurry too rapidly down to the sea,and the pressure of so many clouds on the mountaintopsmakes..

© Elizabeth Bishop

The Moose

For Grace Bulmer BowersFrom narrow provincesof fish and bread and tea,home of the long tideswhere the bay leaves the seatwice a day and takesthe..

© Elizabeth Bishop

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..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Argument

Days that cannot bring you nearor will not,Distance trying to appearsomething more obstinate,argue argue argue with meendlesslyneither proving you..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Exchanging Hats

Unfunny uncles who insistin trying on a lady's hat,--oh, even if the joke falls flat,we share your slight transvestite twistin spite of our..

© Elizabeth Bishop

A Summer’s Dream

To the sagging wharffew ships could come.The population numberedtwo giants, an idiot, a dwarf,a gentle storekeeperasleep behind his counter,and our..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Conversation

The tumult in the heartkeeps asking questions.And then it stops and undertakes to answerin the same tone of voice.No one could tell the..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Love Lies Sleeping

Earliest morning, switching all the tracksthat cross the sky from cinder star to star,coupling the ends of streetsto trains of light.now draw us into..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Cape Breton

Out on the high "bird islands," Ciboux and Hertford,the razorbill auks and the silly-looking puffins all standwith their backs to the mainlandin..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Five Flights Up

Still dark.The unknown bird sits on his usual branch.The little dog next door barks in his sleepinquiringly, just once.Perhaps in his sleep, too, the..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Anaphora

Each day with so much ceremonybegins, with birds, with bells,with whistles from a factory;such white-gold skies our eyesfirst open on, such brilliant..

© Elizabeth Bishop

Chemin De Fer

Alone on the railroad trackI walked with pounding heart.The ties were too close togetheror maybe too far apart.The scenery was..

© Elizabeth Bishop