Late Song
Long evening at the end of spring
with soft rain falling and flowing
from the caves into the broken
stone basin outside the window
a blackbird warning of nightfall
coming and I hear again
announcing that it will happen
darkness and the day will be gone
as I heard it all years ago
knowing no more that I know now
but once more I sit and listen
in the same still room to the rain
at the end of spring and again
hear the blackbird in the evening
_________________
W. S. Merwin
The Pupil
Knopf
2001
