Alicante Lullaby

Sylvia Plath

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In Alicante they bowl the barrels
Bumblingly over the nubs of the cobbles
Past the yellow-paella eateries,
Below the ramshackle back-alley balconies,
While the cocks and hens
In the roofgardens
Scuttle repose with crowns and cackles.

Kumquat-colored trolleys ding as they trundle
Passengers under an indigo fizzle
Needling spumily down from the wires:
Alongside the sibliant narhor the lovers
Hear loudspeakers boom
From each neon-lit palm
Rumbas and sambas no ear-flaps can muffle.

O Cacophony, goddess of jazz and of quarrels,
Crack-throated mistress of bagpipes and cymbals,
Let be your con brios, your capricciosos,
Crescendos, cadenzas, prestos and pretissimos,
My head on the pillow
(Piano, pianissimo)
Lullayed by susurrous lyres and viols.

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Comments1
  • octaviobedford8

    I FOUND THIS POEM VERY COLOURFUL WITH LOTS OF VIBRANT IMAGERY! SEEMS LIKE IT'S PAINTING A PICTURE OF A BUSY, NOISY, YET CHARMING TOWN. IT'S FUN READING ABOUT THE CHAOTIC SCENE FROM IT! BEING A STUDENT I MIGHT NOT UNDERSTAND ALL THE LINGUISTIC EMBELLISHMENTS, BUT I'M CERTAINLY ENJOYING THE RIDE, ON MY LEARNING JOURNEY. ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE WORD 'SUSURROUS' MEANS? NEED IT TO FINISH MY ENGLISH HOMEWORK. THANKS!