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1 " How beautiful you must beto have been able to lead methis far with onlythe sound of your going away "
― W.S. Merwin , The Moon Before Morning
2 " I needed my mistakes in their order to get me here "
3 " What I remember I cannot tellthough it is there in all that I say "
4 " I have no way of telling what I missI am the only one who misses it "
5 " When I was me I rememberedI could remember what was not therebut may have been thereonce "
6 " where will the meanings bewhen the words are forgottenwill I see againwhere you are "
7 " all these years I have looked through your limbsto the river below and the roofs and the nightand you were the way I saw the world "
8 " In my youth I believed in somewhere elseI put my faith in travelnow I am becoming my own tree "
9 " As though it had always been forbidden to remembereach of us grew upknowing nothing about the beginning "
10 " Going too fast for myself I missedmore than I think I can rememberalmost everything it seems sometimesand yet there are chances that come backthat I did not notice when they stoodwhere I could have reached out and touched them "
11 " The wind lifts the whole branch of the poplarcarries it up and out and holds it therewhile each leaf is the whole tree reachingfrom its roots in the dark earth out through allits rings of memory to where it has never been "
12 " I turned to the roomand in the light from the streetbeheld one beautifulbare breast of a friend's friendgently rising and fallingas though I were not therealready not there "
13 " How It Happens”The sky said I am watchingto see what youcan make out of nothingI was looking up and I saidI thought youwere supposed to be doing thatthe sky said Manyare clinging to thatI am giving you a chanceI was looking up and I saidI am the only chance I havethen the sky did not answerand here we arewith our names for the daysthe vast days that do not listen to us "
14 " Ancient World"Orange sunsetin the deep shell of summera long silence reaching across the dry pasturesin the distance a dog barksat the sound of a door closingand at once I am older. "
15 " Another To Echo”How beautiful you must beto have been able to lead methis far with onlythe sound of your going awayheard once at a time and thenremembered in silencewhen the time was goneyou whom I have never seeno forever invisible onewhom I have never mistakenfor another voicenor hesitated to followbeyond precept and prudenceover seas and desertsyou incomparable onefor whom the waters falland the winds searchand the words were madelistening— W.S. Merwin, The Moon Before Morning (Copper Canyon Press, 2014) "
16 " In the cities the birds are forgottenamong other things but then one could saythat the cities are made of absencesof what disappeared so they could be there "
17 " Wild Oats"Watching the first sunlighttouch the tops of the palmswhat could I askAll the beads have gonefrom the old stringand the string does not miss themThe daughters of memorynever pronouncetheir own namesIn the language of heaventhe angel saidgo make your own gardenI dream I am herein the morningand the dream is its own timeLooking into the old wellI see my own facethen another behind itThere I ammorning cloudsin the east windNo one is in the gardenthe autumn daisieshave the day to themselvesAll night in the dark valleythe sound of rain arrivingfrom another timeSeptember when the winddrops and to us it seemsthat the days are waitingI needed my mistakesin their own orderto get me hereHere is the full moonbrining ussilenceI call that singing bird my friendthough I know nothing else about himand he does not know I existWhat is it that I keep forgettingnow I have lost it againright hereI have to keep telling myselfwhy I am going away againI do not seem to listenIn my youth I believed in somewhere elseI put faith in travelnow I am becoming my own tree "
18 " In my youth I believed in somewhere elseI put faith in travelnow I am becoming my own tree— W.S. Merwin, from “Wild Oats,” The Moon Before Morning (Copper Canyon Press, 2014) "
19 " Long Afternoon Light"Small roads written in sleep in the foothillshow long ago and I believed you were lostwith the bronze then deepening in the lightand the shy moss turning to itself holdingits own brightness above the badger’s pathwhile a single crow sailed west without a soundwe trust without giving it a thoughtmeredith rosethat we will always see it as we see itonce and that what we know is onlya moment of what is ours and will staywe believe it as the moment slips awayas lengthening shadows merge in the valleyand a window kindles there like a first starwhat we see again comes to us in secret— W.S. Merwin, The Moon Before Morning (Copper Canyon Press, 2014) "
20 " CONVENIENCEWe were not made in its imagebut from the beginning we believed in itnot for the pure appeasement of hungerbut for its availabilityit could command our devotionbeyond question and without our consentand by whatever name we have called itin its name love has been set asideunmeasured time has been devoted to itforests have been erased and rivers poisonedand truth has been relegated for itwars have been sanctified by itwe believe that we have a right to iteven though it belongs to no onewe carry a way back to it everywherewe are sure that it is saving somethingwe consider it our personal saviorall we have to pay for it is ourselves "