By — PBS News Hour PBS News Hour Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/entertainment-jan-june96-to_urania Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter "To Urania" by Joseph Brodsky Arts Jan 29, 1996 4:48 PM EDT He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987 and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States in 1991. His books of poetry include “A Part of Speech” (1977) and “To Urania” (1988), both published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. To I.K. Everything has its limit, including sorrow.A windowpane stalls a stare. Nor does a grill abandona leaf. One may rattle the keys, gurgle down a swallow.Loneliness cubes a man at random.A camel sniffs at the rail with a resentful nostril;a perspective cuts emptiness deep and even.And what is space anyway if not thebody’s absence at every givenpoint? That’s why Urania’s older than sister Clio!In daylight or with the soot-rich lantern,you see the globe’s pate free of any bio,you see she hides nothing, unlike the latter.There they are, blueberry-laden forests,rivers where the folk with bare hands catch sturgeonor the towns in whose soggy phone booksyou are starring no longer; father eastward surge onbrown mountain ranges; wild mares carousingin tall sedge; the cheeckbones get yelloweras they turn numerous. And still farther east, steam dreadnoughtsor cruisers,and the expanse grows blue like lace underwear. (1981/ Translated by the author) “To Urania” from TO URANIA by Joseph Brodsky. Copyright (c) 1988 by Joseph Brodsky. Used by arrangement with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. All rights reserved. CAUTION: Users are warned that this Work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — PBS News Hour PBS News Hour
He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987 and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States in 1991. His books of poetry include “A Part of Speech” (1977) and “To Urania” (1988), both published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. To I.K. Everything has its limit, including sorrow.A windowpane stalls a stare. Nor does a grill abandona leaf. One may rattle the keys, gurgle down a swallow.Loneliness cubes a man at random.A camel sniffs at the rail with a resentful nostril;a perspective cuts emptiness deep and even.And what is space anyway if not thebody’s absence at every givenpoint? That’s why Urania’s older than sister Clio!In daylight or with the soot-rich lantern,you see the globe’s pate free of any bio,you see she hides nothing, unlike the latter.There they are, blueberry-laden forests,rivers where the folk with bare hands catch sturgeonor the towns in whose soggy phone booksyou are starring no longer; father eastward surge onbrown mountain ranges; wild mares carousingin tall sedge; the cheeckbones get yelloweras they turn numerous. And still farther east, steam dreadnoughtsor cruisers,and the expanse grows blue like lace underwear. (1981/ Translated by the author) “To Urania” from TO URANIA by Joseph Brodsky. Copyright (c) 1988 by Joseph Brodsky. Used by arrangement with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. All rights reserved. CAUTION: Users are warned that this Work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now