Joseph Brodsky

Here you will find the Poem I threw my arms about those shoulders of poet Joseph Brodsky

I threw my arms about those shoulders

M.B. 

 I threw my arms about those shoulders, glancing 
 at what emerged behind that back, 
 and saw a chair pushed slightly forward, 
 merging now with the lighted wall. 
 The lamp glared too bright to show 
 the shabby furniture to some advantage, 
 and that is why sofa of brown leather 
 shone a sort of yellow in a corner. 
 The table looked bare, the parquet glossy, 
 the stove quite dark, and in a dusty frame 
 a landscape did not stir. Only the sideboard 
 seemed to me to have some animation. 
 But a moth flitted round the room, 
 causing my arrested glance to shift; 
 and if at any time a ghost had lived here, 
 he now was gone, abandoning this house.