"The first thing I recognize as the beginning of a poem," writes Richard Pevear, "is a distinct rhythm, not only of stress but of movement. Once I hear it, I can find words for it. But the essential thing, finally, is simultaneity-the completion of a shape, a thought, an emotion, a figure, all at the same time. The Trojan War, the figures of Greek tragedy, certain elements of the Gospels, the stories of Malory, are parts of my personal language."

Originally published in 1978.

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Richard Pevear

• Frontmatter,
• CONTENTS,
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS,
• To Autumn,
• Double Labor,
• Energy,
• Speech,
• Lykaon,
• For a Political Prisoner,
• The Gardener,
• Summer and the Sorgue,
• Wild Asters,
• Return of the Light,
• Summer Storm,
• The Beautiful Acceptance,
• Mnemosyne,
• Motion and Rest,
• Little Acmeist Elegy,
• Waiting,
• Offering,
• Les Illuminés,
• The City,
• Talisman,
• Prehistory,
• Two Russian Goat Songs,
• Epilogue,
• Provisional Ode,
• In Exile,
• Building as Farming,
• Auberge de Peyrebeilhe,
• Balin le Savage,
• A Romanesque Carving,
• "You lie back . . . ",
• "A harvest of our days . . .",
• Still Life,
• "Quiet night...",
• For You, from Elsewhere,
• "I remember . . . ",
• "Not the long winters . . .",
• "Dazed from too much . . .",
• "A domed hive . . . ",
• "Midsummer night...",
• In a Country House,
• "Almond eyes . . . ",
• "Time has been rich . . . ",
• "I looked in your eyes . . . ",
• You, Here?,
• From the Old Welsh,
• La Beale Isode,
• The Stars Again,
• "The change I had foreseen ...",
• December 24, 1976,
• The Visit,
• Night Talk,