The quiet morning has a few cloud friends
that are gone when I look for them again
in this one summer to which I have come
after everything that I remember
what can I call it before it has gone
it does not hear me and does not know me
it passes without seeing I am here
it is only me going my own way
there is no one else who can forget it
Merwin is another poet whose work I heard often at Zen Center, and I always enjoyed hearing it. In his obituary, I read that he studied with Robert Aitken in Hawaii, which makes sense.
This was a favorite of mine from Merwin.
For the Anniversary of My Death
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star
Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what
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Thanks Mark, that is lovely. I hope you are well!
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