This week Poem of the Day is celebrating the start of December, with a poem each day somehow related to the month.
After a pair of English poets, it's time for a pair of Americans. Born in 1927 and coming to fame as an anti-war poet during the 1960s, Merwin is decidedly more modern than Southey or Keats, though his poem might not be so different...
The cold slope is standing in darkness
But the south of the trees is dry to the touch
The heavy limbs climb into the moonlight bearing feathers
I came to watch these
White plants older at night
The oldest
Come first to the ruins
And I hear magpies kept awake by the moon
The water flows through its
Own fingers without end
Tonight once more
I find a single prayer and it is not for men
Tomorrow, a woman. Shocking I know.
No comments:
Post a Comment