Status Updates From The Essential W.S. Merwin

“I call that singing bird my friend
though I know nothing else about him
and he does not know I exist”

“as I walk out through the early garden
only the day and I are here with no
before or after and the dew looks up
without a number or a present age”

“following a hope that keeps
beckoning me”

“only when I

began to think of losing you did I
recognize you when you were already

part memory part distance remaining
mine in the ways that I learn to miss you

from what we cannot hold the stars are made”

“my life which now I have slept through to wake in a dark house talking to the shadows about love”

“it is the year in which you are sitting there as you are
in the morning speaking to me and I hear
you through the burning day and I touch you
to be sure and there is time there is still time”

“Will any come back will one
Saying yes
Saying look careful yes
We will meet again”

“Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.”

(here together, cont.)

we see the shores blurring past as we hold
each other in the rushing current
the daylight rushes unheard far above us
how long will we be swept along in the daylight
how long will we cling together in the night
and where will it carry us together

w.s. merwin

Here Together

These days I can see us clinging to each other
as we are swept along by the current
I am clinging to you to keep you from
being swept away and you are clingjng to me
to keep me from being swept away from you
(cont.)