Letters From A Man In Solitary Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGBBBHDIJEKELMD NDOKDBPQRSTUVJBWXDYZ LA2 B2BC2D2EE2JEBH F2E2G2H2I2J2BWJBBBBB BK2L2M2 LN2WEO2P2Q2BKTQER2ZM 2BBM2S2PBLET2 BF2EQ2L2BU2V2L2EJJ L| A | |
| I carved your name on my watchband | B |
| with my fingernail | C |
| Where I am you know | D |
| I don't have a pearl handled jackknife | E |
| they won't give me anything sharp | F |
| or a plane tree with its head in the clouds | G |
| Trees may grow in the yard | B |
| but I'm not allowed | B |
| to see the sky overhead | B |
| How many others are in this place | H |
| I don't know | D |
| I'm alone far from them | I |
| they're all together far from me | J |
| To talk anyone besides myself | E |
| is forbidden | K |
| So I talk to myself | E |
| But I find my conversation so boring | L |
| my dear wife that I sing songs | M |
| And what do you know | D |
| that awful always off key voice of mine | N |
| touches me so | D |
| that my heart breaks | O |
| And just like the barefoot orphan | K |
| lost in the snow | D |
| in those old sad stories my heart | B |
| with moist blue eyes | P |
| and a little red runny rose | Q |
| wants to snuggle up in your arms | R |
| It doesn't make me blush | S |
| that right now | T |
| I'm this weak | U |
| this selfish | V |
| this human simply | J |
| No doubt my state can be explained | B |
| physiologically psychologically etc | W |
| Or maybe it's | X |
| this barred window | D |
| this earthen jug | Y |
| these four walls | Z |
| which for months have kept me from hearing | L |
| another human voice | A2 |
| - | |
| It's five o'clock my dear | B2 |
| Outside | B |
| with its dryness | C2 |
| eerie whispers | D2 |
| mud roof | E |
| and lame skinny horse | E2 |
| standing motionless in infinity | J |
| I mean it's enough to drive the man inside crazy with grief | E |
| outside with all its machinery and all its art | B |
| a plains night comes down red on treeless space | H |
| - | |
| Again today night will fall in no time | F2 |
| A light will circle the lame skinny horse | E2 |
| And the treeless space in this hopeless landscape | G2 |
| stretched out before me like the body of a hard man | H2 |
| will suddenly be filled with stars | I2 |
| We'll reach the inevitable end once more | J2 |
| which is to say the stage is set | B |
| again today for an elaborate nostalgia | W |
| Me | J |
| the man inside | B |
| once more I'll exhibit my customary talent | B |
| and singing an old fashioned lament | B |
| in the reedy voice of my childhood | B |
| once more by God it will crush my unhappy heart | B |
| to hear you inside my head | B |
| so far | K2 |
| away as if I were watching you | L2 |
| in a smoky broken mirror | M2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| It's spring outside my dear wife spring | L |
| Outside on the plain suddenly the smell | N2 |
| of fresh earth birds singing etc | W |
| It's spring my dear wife | E |
| the plain outside sparkles | O2 |
| And inside the bed comes alive with bugs | P2 |
| the water jug no longer freezes | Q2 |
| and in the morning sun floods the concrete | B |
| The sun | K |
| every day till noon now | T |
| it comes and goes | Q |
| from me flashing off | E |
| and on | R2 |
| And as the day turns to afternoon shadows climb the walls | Z |
| the glass of the barred window catches fire | M2 |
| and it's night outside | B |
| a cloudless spring night | B |
| And inside this is spring's darkest hour | M2 |
| In short the demon called freedom | S2 |
| with its glittering scales and fiery eyes | P |
| possesses the man inside | B |
| especially in spring | L |
| I know this from experience my dear wife | E |
| from experience | T2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| Sunday today | B |
| Today they took me out in the sun for the first time | F2 |
| And I just stood there struck for the first time in my life | E |
| by how far away the sky is | Q2 |
| how blue | L2 |
| and how wide | B |
| Then I respectfully sat down on the earth | U2 |
| I leaned back against the wall | V2 |
| For a moment no trap to fall into | L2 |
| no struggle no freedom no wife | E |
| Only earth sun and me | J |
| I am happy | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| Trans by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk | L |
Nazim Hikmet
(1)
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