For A Coming Extinction by William Stanley Merwin

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William Stanley Merwin (1927 - / New York / United States)

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William Stanley Merwin (born 30 September 1927 ) is an American poet. He made a name for himself as an anti-war poet during the 1960s. Later, he would .. more >>

	22 poems of W.S. Merwin File Size:142 k File Format: Acrobat Reader
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For A Coming Extinction

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Gray whale
Now that we are sinding you to The End
That great god
Tell him
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing

I write as though you could understand
And I could say it
One must always pretend something
Among the dying
When you have left the seas nodding on their stalks
Empty of you
Tell him that we were made
On another day

The bewilderment will diminish like an echo
Winding along your inner mountains
Unheard by us
And find its way out
Leaving behind it the future
Dead
And ours

When you will not see again
The whale calves trying the light
Consider what you will find in the black garden
And its court
The sea cows the Great Auks the gorillas
The irreplaceable hosts ranged countless
And fore-ordaining as stars
Our sacrifices
Join your work to theirs
Tell him
That it is we who are important

William Stanley Merwin

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Read poems about / on: future, work, sea, light, god, star, wind

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11/8/2009 7:11:01 AM. #.1# You Are Here: For A Coming Extinction by William Stanley Merwin