When
I go away from you
The
world beats dead
Like
a slackened drum.
I
call out for you against the jutted stars
And
shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets
coming fast,
One
after the other,
Wedge
you away from me,
And
the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So
that I can no longer see your face.
Why
should I leave you,
To
wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?
Vocabulary:
1) slacken: to make or become slack (not pulled tight); reduce in activity, force, etc., or in tightness.
The train slackened speed.
Our speed slackened as we approach the station.
The demand for coal begins to slacken(off) in the spring.
Slacken the tent ropes before it rains.
2) jut: to stick up or out further than the things around it; project
The balcony juts out over the sea.
Mountains jutting into the sky.
3) ridge: a long narrow raised part of a surface, such as the top of a range of mountains or of a sloping roof where the two sloping surfaces meet.
We walked along the mountain ridge.
The sea left a pattern of ridges and hollows on the sand.
A ridge (=long area) of high pressure is approaching from the Atlantic and will bring sunny weather.
4) wedge: n. 1. a piece of wood or other hard material with a V-shaped edge, one end being thin and the other quite wide, used esp. for making a space (to split or break something, e.g. a piece of wood) or filling a space (to hold two things together)
Put a wedge in the door so that it will stay open.
He felt that the differences in their religions were driving a wedge between them. (=separating them)
2. something shaped like this
a wedge of chocolate cake
v. 1. to fix firmly with a wedge
Wedge the door (open/shut).
2. to force into a narrow or limited space
The people sitting close to me wedged me in (into) the corner.
5) prick: to make a very small hole in skin or the surface with a sharp-pointed object
When I was pruning the roses I pricked myself. (I pricked my finger on a thorn)
