Questions Of Travel Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEEFGBHEF IGFFEJKFFHLMLEMNO FFFHHFPEQRFSFFTHE FFEUFEVEWEFEE XIFN FFI

There are too many waterfalls here the crowded streamsA
hurry too rapidly down to the seaB
and the pressure of so many clouds on the mountaintopsC
makes them spill over the sides in soft slow motionD
turning to waterfalls under our very eyesE
For if those streaks those mile long shiny tearstainsE
aren't waterfalls yetF
in a quick age or so as ages go hereG
they probably will beB
But if the streams and clouds keep travelling travellingH
the mountains look like the hulls of capsized shipsE
slime hung and barnacledF
-
Think of the long trip homeI
Should we have stayed at home and thought of hereG
Where should we be todayF
Is it right to be watching strangers in a playF
in this strangest of theatresE
What childishness is it that while there's a breath of lifeJ
in our bodies we are determined to rushK
to see the sun the other way aroundF
The tiniest green hummingbird in the worldF
To stare at some inexplicable old stoneworkH
inexplicable and impenetrableL
at any viewM
instantly seen and always always delightfulL
Oh must we dream our dreamsE
and have them tooM
And have we roomN
for one more folded sunset still quite warmO
-
But surely it would have been a pityF
not to have seen the trees along this roadF
really exaggerated in their beautyF
not to have seen them gesturingH
like noble pantomimists robed in pinkH
Not to have had to stop for gas and heardF
the sad two noted wooden tuneP
of disparate wooden clogsE
carelessly clacking overQ
a grease stained filling station floorR
In another country the clogs would all be testedF
Each pair there would have identical pitchS
A pity not to have heardF
the other less primitive music of the fat brown birdF
who sings above the broken gasoline pumpT
in a bamboo church of Jesuit baroqueH
three towers five silver crossesE
-
Yes a pity not to have ponderedF
blurr'dly and inconclusivelyF
on what connection can exist for centuriesE
between the crudest wooden footwearU
and careful and finickyF
the whittled fantasies of wooden cagesE
Never to have studied history inV
the weak calligraphy of songbirds' cagesE
And never to have had to listen to rainW
so much like politicians' speechesE
two hours of unrelenting oratoryF
and then a sudden golden silenceE
in which the traveller takes a notebook writesE
-
'Is it lack of imagination that makes us comeX
to imagined places not just stay at homeI
Or could Pascal have been not entirely rightF
about just sitting quietly in one's roomN
-
Continent city country societyF
the choice is never wide and never freeF
And here or there No Should we have stayed at homeI
wherever that may be '-

Elizabeth Bishop



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about Questions Of Travel poem by Elizabeth Bishop


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 13 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets