Elizabeth Bishop (Элизабет Бишоп)

Sonnet (Caught – the bubble)

Caught - the bubble
in the spirit level,
a creature divided;
and the compass needle
wobbling and wavering,
undecided.
Freed - the broken
thermometer’s mercury
running away;
and the rainbow-bird
from the narrow bevel
of the empty mirror,
flying wherever
it feels like, gay!

Elizabeth Bishop’s other poems:

  1. At the Fishhouses
  2. Squatter’s Children
  3. The Man-Moth
  4. The Armadillo
  5. Strayed Crab




To the dedicated English version of this website