Friday, January 20, 2017

TO THE WORDS ~









To the Words


When it happens you are not there



O you beyond numbers

beyond recollection

passed on from breath to breath

given again

from day to day from age

to age

charged with knowledge

knowing nothing



indifferent elders

indispensable and sleepless



keepers of our names

before ever we came

to be called by them



you that were

formed to begin with

you that were cried out

you that were spoken

to begin with

to say what could not be said



ancient precious

and helpless ones



say it


________________

W. S. Merwin
Migrations
Copper Canyon Press
2005