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Brodsky 13c Verso
This version of stanza 6, possibly the next in the sequence of tentative completions, begins by reiterating in its first thirteen lines what Virginia's "single torn leaf" recto develops. It concludes with the formative image of 'fireflies', which will remain in the final draft, surfacing before it breaks off. The narrative detail is very prominent in this draft.
We had been
Raiding over Mannheim. Youve seen
The place? Then you know
How one hangs just beneath the stars, and seems
To see the incandescent entrails of the Hun,
And you doubtless know
Those strong sharp searchlight gleams
That cross and recross like sounds
['And [illeg.]' del.]
['To the chap who is impaled on two of them' del.]
['For the bloody Hun, when all is said and done' del.]
And the racket of engines and the slow
Coughing unfolding of Archie shell.
['Well' del.]
['They boxed us in the whirl' del.]
We had released our bombs and started home
There were Huns everywhere by now
Like wasps around a bat
['Crosses, crosses, crosses' del.]
['Then the first tracers' del.]
And tracer bullets like fireflies in dew laden thickets
They boxed us in the whirl
And did us in
Raiding over Mannheim. Youve seen
The place? Then you know
How one hangs just beneath the stars, and seems
To see the incandescent entrails of the Hun,
And you doubtless know
244
That cross and recross like sounds
['And [illeg.]' del.]
['To the chap who is impaled on two of them' del.]
['For the bloody Hun, when all is said and done' del.]
And the racket of engines and the slow
Coughing unfolding of Archie shell.
['Well' del.]
['They boxed us in the whirl' del.]
We had released our bombs and started home
There were Huns everywhere by now
Like wasps around a bat
['Crosses, crosses, crosses' del.]
['Then the first tracers' del.]
And tracer bullets like fireflies in dew laden thickets
They boxed us in the whirl
And did us in
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