Alder Catkin Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEEFGHIJKLMCNLLOC PQRSLCCTUVWXYCMZA2B2 C2D2E2OF2G2LH2LI2J2K 2L2M2RLXN2O2WP2XZXBL LXQ2MER2LS2OT2CU2V2T 2W2EX2SY2NZ2A3XWB3YX CB3LBE L| Whenever the wind | A |
| drops an alder catkin into my palm | B |
| or a cuckoo calls merrily | C |
| with trains screaming by | D |
| I fall to reflecting | E |
| and struggle to grasp life's meaning | E |
| and as usual arrive | F |
| at the place where it slips from my grasp | G |
| Reducing oneself | H |
| to a speck of dust in a starry nebula | I |
| is an old way out | J |
| but wiser than trumped up grandeur | K |
| and it's no degradation | L |
| to realize one's own insignificance | M |
| for in it we realize sadly | C |
| the implicit grandeur of life | N |
| Alder catkin | L |
| weightless as down | L |
| only blow it away | O |
| and all changes utterly | C |
| and life it appears | P |
| is not such a trifling matter | Q |
| when nothing about it | R |
| seems merely a trifle | S |
| Alder catkin | L |
| loftier than any prophecy | C |
| The person who silently | C |
| pulls it to pieces is changed | T |
| So what if we can't | U |
| change the world in a flash as we'd like | V |
| when we change | W |
| the world changes too | X |
| We're then transported | Y |
| into a kind of new quality | C |
| as we sail into the distance | M |
| to a new unknown land | Z |
| and we don't even notice | A2 |
| the rocking's strange rhythm | B2 |
| on new waters | C2 |
| and a completely different ship | D2 |
| When there suddenly wakes | E2 |
| the starless feeling of being a castaway | O |
| from those shores | F2 |
| where you greeted the dawn with such hope | G2 |
| my dear companion | L |
| there's no need take it from me to despair | H2 |
| Trust in the unknown | L |
| alarmingly black anchorage | I2 |
| What often alarms from afar | J2 |
| seems hardly perturbing in close up | K2 |
| There too are eyes voices | L2 |
| the minute glow of cigarettes | M2 |
| But as you grow used to it | R |
| the creak of what seems like a haven | L |
| will murmur to you | X |
| that no single haven exists | N2 |
| Translucent the soul | O2 |
| that can't be embittered by change | W |
| Forgive the friends who've misunderstood | P2 |
| or even betrayed you | X |
| Forgive understand | Z |
| even if your lover stops loving you | X |
| Set her free from your palm | B |
| like an alder catkin | L |
| And don't trust a new haven | L |
| that starts to enfold you | X |
| your vocation is | Q2 |
| the havenless far off distance | M |
| Break away from the morning | E |
| if you become moored by habit | R2 |
| and cast off again | L |
| and set sail for a different sorrow | S2 |
| Let people say | O |
| 'Really when will he get some sense ' | T2 |
| Don't worry | C |
| You can't please them all at one time | U2 |
| What base common sense | V2 |
| 'It'll all blow over it'll all come right in the end ' | T2 |
| When it all comes right in the end | W2 |
| there's no point in living | E |
| And what can't be explained | X2 |
| is in no way nonsensical | S |
| All reassessments should not worry one in the least | Y2 |
| since the value of life | N |
| won't be lowered | Z2 |
| or raised | A3 |
| the worth of what's beyond value | X |
| isn't subject to change | W |
| Why am I saying all this | B3 |
| Because one stupid | Y |
| chatterbox of a cuckoo | X |
| predicts a long life for me | C |
| Why am I saying all this | B3 |
| Because an alder catkin | L |
| lies in my palm | B |
| and quivers as if living | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by Arthur Boyars and Simon Franklin | L |
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
(2)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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