After The Storm
The air is full of after-thunder freshness,
And everything rejoices and revives.
With the whole outburst of its purple clusters
The lilac drinks the air of paradise.
The gutters overflow; the change of weather
Makes all you see appear alive and new.
Meanwhile the shades of sky are growing lighter,
Beyond the blackest cloud the height is blue.
An artist’s hand, with mastery still greater
Wipes dirt and dust off objects in his path.
Reality and life, the past and present,
Emerge transformed out of his colour-bath.
The memory of over half a lifetime
Like swiftly passing thunder dies away.
The century is no more under wardship:
High time to let the future have its say.
It is not revolutions and upheavals
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone’s soul, inspired and ablaze.
Boris Pasternak
Happy birthday to the author of the great “Dr. Zhivago”!
Feb 10, 2014 @ 18:39:35
I love Pasternak. What a lovely poem!
Feb 10, 2014 @ 19:19:33
I liked it, and it’s not one of his I’d read before.
Feb 10, 2014 @ 21:47:43
I was just thinking that I need to read Doctor Z again. Guess the Olympics got me thinking about it.
Feb 11, 2014 @ 08:33:56
Yes, I’m being called by Russians at the moment – but that’s my usual state of mind, really!
Feb 11, 2014 @ 17:16:21
One year I will read Dr Zhivago – I mean it, though I say this sort of thing a lot! 🙂
Feb 11, 2014 @ 19:42:28
(Whispers) I’ve never actually read it either, though I love the film. Maybe this will be my year of reading it….