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Boris Leonidovich Pasternak

The Russian poet and translator Pasternak became an international symbol of the incorruptible moral courage of an artist in conflict with his political environment.The son of the celebrated painter Leonid Pasternak and the

Swifts

by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890–1960)

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16

At twilight the swifts have no power,

to hold back that pale blue coolness.

It bursts from throats, a clamour

an outpour that can’t grow less.

The swifts have no way, high

up there, overhead, of restraining

their clarion cries: ‘O, triumph,

see, see, how the earth’s receding!’

Like steam from a boiling kettle,

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