Elizabeth Bishop – ‘Large Bad Picture’

This poem has one of my all-time favourite titles, as well as one of my favourite endings:

In the pink light
the small red sun goes rolling, rolling,
round and round and round at the same height
in perpetual sunset, comprehensive, consoling,

while the ships consider it.
Apparently they have reached their destination.
It would be hard to say what brought them there,
commerce or contemplation.

Reading it again last night, I noticed how the ‘com… con’ of ‘comprehensive, consoling’ sets up ‘commerce or contemplation’ in the last line. Comprehensive commerce. Consoling contemplation.