Walking Around Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDC EFGHI JKA LBMNOP QRST BUCV WXYZA2 B2CKC2D2 HNNIC2E2F2 G2WH2I2J2KW K2| It so happens I am sick of being a man | A |
| And it happens that I walk into tailorshops and movie | B |
| houses | C |
| dried up waterproof like a swan made of felt | D |
| steering my way in a water of wombs and ashes | C |
| - | |
| The smell of barbershops makes me break into hoarse | E |
| sobs | F |
| The only thing I want is to lie still like stones or wool | G |
| The only thing I want is to see no more stores no gardens | H |
| no more goods no spectacles no elevators | I |
| - | |
| It so happens that I am sick of my feet and my nails | J |
| and my hair and my shadow | K |
| It so happens I am sick of being a man | A |
| - | |
| Still it would be marvelous | L |
| to terrify a law clerk with a cut lily | B |
| or kill a nun with a blow on the ear | M |
| It would be great | N |
| to go through the streets with a green knife | O |
| letting out yells until I died of the cold | P |
| - | |
| I don't want to go on being a root in the dark | Q |
| insecure stretched out shivering with sleep | R |
| going on down into the moist guts of the earth | S |
| taking in and thinking eating every day | T |
| - | |
| I don't want so much misery | B |
| I don't want to go on as a root and a tomb | U |
| alone under the ground a warehouse with corpses | C |
| half frozen dying of grief | V |
| - | |
| That's why Monday when it sees me coming | W |
| with my convict face blazes up like gasoline | X |
| and it howls on its way like a wounded wheel | Y |
| and leaves tracks full of warm blood leading toward the | Z |
| night | A2 |
| - | |
| And it pushes me into certain corners into some moist | B2 |
| houses | C |
| into hospitals where the bones fly out the window | K |
| into shoeshops that smell like vinegar | C2 |
| and certain streets hideous as cracks in the skin | D2 |
| - | |
| There are sulphur colored birds and hideous intestines | H |
| hanging over the doors of houses that I hate | N |
| and there are false teeth forgotten in a coffeepot | N |
| there are mirrors | I |
| that ought to have wept from shame and terror | C2 |
| there are umbrellas everywhere and venoms and umbilical | E2 |
| cords | F2 |
| - | |
| I stroll along serenely with my eyes my shoes | G2 |
| my rage forgetting everything | W |
| I walk by going through office buildings and orthopedic | H2 |
| shops | I2 |
| and courtyards with washing hanging from the line | J2 |
| underwear towels and shirts from which slow | K |
| dirty tears are falling | W |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by Robert Bly | K2 |
Pablo Neruda
(1)
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About Walking Around
Walking Around is a poem by Pablo Neruda. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.