Brook anew
Slowly the brook meanders
− I retraced my steps back −
past the woodland’s edges;
shadows of rings on the surface
of these flowing waters
move across the stream’s sunlit floor,
bright, glasslike, disappearing,
to reappear
elsewhere.
Here fish live, at times silver flashing,
then like a dark line
over clear sand, hardly
comprehensible to the eye.
They know not of the shadows,
like letters thrown on the grass
by the trees lining the path −
an othertongue expressing so much,
if only I choose to listen;
just as the way you spoke, so long ago,
and by speaking, caught me;
to hear
the content of those words,
over and over I must convert
(for ever still keeping the books
for our daily bread,
poet to breathe).
My head is threading those shadows
to a chain for hours on end
and, when I finally read
what the trees have written,
my heart smiles
(while the fish flash past
underneath the rings
and I come up for air).
The world returns now,
but only older than before
by a minute …
About this poem
Memories resurfacing and reinterpreting them (originally written in Dutch and translated by myself)
Font size:
Written on March 07, 2020
Submitted by JohnLoopstra on October 04, 2021
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 3 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXXXABCXD CXEXFXXXG XEXXXXHX FXHGXXXD XBX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 958 |
Words | 180 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 8, 8, 3 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Brook anew" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/111240/brook-anew>.
Discuss the poem Brook anew with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In