Triolets

Anthony Hecht

I

At dawn, the warmth-awakened birds

Rouse us, by their sweet chorales beckoned,

Articulate in all but words

At dawn. The warmth-awakened birds

Employ Mozart’s ascending thirds

More jubilantly every second.

At dawn, the warmth-awakened birds

Rouse us, by their sweet chorales beckoned.


II

Northward from here a long-drawn gloaming

Lets dim light soften and linger on

Till birds fall silent, a last few homing

Northward from here. A long-drawn gloaming

Mutes Nature’s brilliant polychroming,

Its spectrum shrunken as all goes wan.

Northward from here a long-drawn gloaming

Lets dim light soften and linger on.


III

This time of year maples are turning

Golden, and oaks tobacco-brown.

Yet multitudes pass undiscerning

This time of year. Maples are turning

This way and that as if in yearning

With fitful gestures up and down.

This time of year maples are turning

Golden, and oaks tobacco-brown.


IV

A steady snow comes down aslant

With punishing cold that gives no quarter.

What comforts shall midwinter grant?

A steady snow comes down aslant

As fugitive and hierophant

Dream of green fields beside still water.

A steady snow comes down aslant

With punishing cold that gives no quarter.

Anthony Hecht was a twentieth-century American poet. His work includes the Pulitzer Prize winning The Hard Hours and Flight Among the Tombs.
Originally published:
June 1, 2010

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