Podcast
On Being with Krista Tippett
This book of selected poems contains the last poem written by Osip Mandelstam before his death, which speaks of hope and persistence despite dire circumstances. The speaker mentioned having received a copy and that it contained a poem that might fit in well with the conversation.
I was alive in the blizzard of the blossoming pear. Myself I stood in the storm of the bird cherry tree. It was all leaf life and star shower, unerring, self-shattering power. And it was all aimed at...
— Episode: [Unedited] Christian Wiman with Krista T...
Episode: [Unedited] Christian Wiman with Krista Tippett
This book of selected poems contains the last poem written by Osip Mandelstam before his death, which speaks of hope and persistence despite dire circumstances. The speaker mentioned having received a copy and that it contained a poem that might fit in well with the conversation.
I was alive in the blizzard of the blossoming pear. Myself I stood in the storm of the bird cherry tree. It was all leaf life and star shower, unerring, self-shattering power. And it was all aimed at me.
What is this dire delight flowering, fleeing always earth? What is being? What is truth? Blossoms rupture and rapture the air. All hover and hammer time intensified and time intolerable sweetness. Ravelling rot. It is now. It is not.