Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

A poem for August

The voluntary obstinacy of flight

August

  • This was its promise, held to faithfully:
  • The early morning sun came in this way
  • Until the angle of its saffron beam
  • Between the curtains and the sofa lay,
  • And with its ochre heat it spread across
  • The village houses, and the nearby wood,
  • Upon my bed and on my dampened pillow
  • And to the corner where the bookcase stood.
  • Then I recalled the reason why my pillow
  • Had been so dampened by those tears that fell-
  • I’d dreamt I saw you coming one by one
  • Across the wood to wish me your farewell.
  • You came in ones and twos, a straggling crowd;
  • Then suddenly someone mentioned a word:
  • It was the sixth of August, by Old Style,
  • And the Transfiguration of Our Lord.
  • For from Mount Tabor usually this day
  • There comes a light without a flame to shine,
  • And autumn draws all eyes upon itself
  • As clear and unmistaken as a sign.
  • But you came forward through the tiny, stripped,
  • The pauperly and trembling alder grove,
  • Into the graveyard’s coppice, russet-red,
  • Which, like stamped gingerbread, lay there and glowed.
  • And with the silence of those high treetops
  • Was neighbour only the imposing sky
  • And in the echoed crowing of the cocks
  • The distances and distances rang by:
  • There in the churchyard underneath the trees,
  • Like some surveyor from the government
  • Death gazed on my pale face to estimate
  • How large a grave would suit my measurement.
  • All those who stood there could distinctly hear
  • A quiet voice emerge from where I lay:
  • The voice was mine, my past; prophetic words
  • That sounded now, unsullied by decay:
  • ‘Farewell, wonder of azure and of gold
  • Surrounding the Transfiguration’s power:
  • Assuage now with a woman’s last caress
  • The bitterness of my predestined hour!
  • ‘Farewell timeless expanse of passing years!
  • Farewell, woman who flung your challenge steeled
  • Against the abyss of humiliations:
  • For it is I who am your battlefield!
  • ‘Farewell, you span of open wings outspread,
  • The voluntary obstinacy of flight,
  • O figure of the world revealed in speech,
  • Creative genius, wonder-working might!’
Boris Pasternak

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) was a Russian poet and novelist who was also well-known for his translations of Goethe and Shakespeare into Russian. His most famous work, the epic novel Doctor Zhivago, was censored in Soviet Russia because of its interpretation of the Russian Revolution, among other things. While Soviet authorities refused permission to publish the book, a copy of the manuscript was smuggled out of the country and it was published in Europe and America in 1957 with the help of the CIA. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958; however, the Communist Party of Russia forced him to decline the prize. In 1988, surviving relatives accepted the prize in his name.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1

August

  • This was its promise, held to faithfully:
  • The early morning sun came in this way
  • Until the angle of its saffron beam
  • Between the curtains and the sofa lay,
  • And with its ochre heat it spread across
  • The village houses, and the nearby wood,
  • Upon my bed and on my dampened pillow
  • And to the corner where the bookcase stood.
  • Then I recalled the reason why my pillow
  • Had been so dampened by those tears that fell-
  • I’d dreamt I saw you coming one by one
  • Across the wood to wish me your farewell.
  • You came in ones and twos, a straggling crowd;
  • Then suddenly someone mentioned a word:
  • It was the sixth of August, by Old Style,
  • And the Transfiguration of Our Lord.
  • For from Mount Tabor usually this day
  • There comes a light without a flame to shine,
  • And autumn draws all eyes upon itself
  • As clear and unmistaken as a sign.
  • But you came forward through the tiny, stripped,
  • The pauperly and trembling alder grove,
  • Into the graveyard’s coppice, russet-red,
  • Which, like stamped gingerbread, lay there and glowed.
  • And with the silence of those high treetops
  • Was neighbour only the imposing sky
  • And in the echoed crowing of the cocks
  • The distances and distances rang by:
  • There in the churchyard underneath the trees,
  • Like some surveyor from the government
  • Death gazed on my pale face to estimate
  • How large a grave would suit my measurement.
  • All those who stood there could distinctly hear
  • A quiet voice emerge from where I lay:
  • The voice was mine, my past; prophetic words
  • That sounded now, unsullied by decay:
  • ‘Farewell, wonder of azure and of gold
  • Surrounding the Transfiguration’s power:
  • Assuage now with a woman’s last caress
  • The bitterness of my predestined hour!
  • ‘Farewell timeless expanse of passing years!
  • Farewell, woman who flung your challenge steeled
  • Against the abyss of humiliations:
  • For it is I who am your battlefield!
  • ‘Farewell, you span of open wings outspread,
  • The voluntary obstinacy of flight,
  • O figure of the world revealed in speech,
  • Creative genius, wonder-working might!’
Boris Pasternak

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) was a Russian poet and novelist who was also well-known for his translations of Goethe and Shakespeare into Russian. His most famous work, the epic novel Doctor Zhivago, was censored in Soviet Russia because of its interpretation of the Russian Revolution, among other things. While Soviet authorities refused permission to publish the book, a copy of the manuscript was smuggled out of the country and it was published in Europe and America in 1957 with the help of the CIA. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958; however, the Communist Party of Russia forced him to decline the prize. In 1988, surviving relatives accepted the prize in his name.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
Next Article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader