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You are here: Home / Poems / “Place” by W.S. Merwin

“Place” by W.S. Merwin

April 20, 2015 By Merwin Conservancy

Photo by Matthew Thayer

PLACE

On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree

what for
not for the fruit

the tree that bears the fruit
is not the one that was planted

I want the tree that stands
in the earth for the first time

with the sun already
going down

and the water
touching its roots

in the earth full of the dead
and the clouds passing

one by one
over its leaves

— W.S. Merwin, from his book The Rain in the Trees (1998, A.A. Knopf).
Copyright © 1988 by W. S. Merwin.  Used by permission of the publisher.


To browse through our archive of previously posted Poems of the Week, click here.

To support the preservation of W.S. Merwin’s legacy and our efforts to preserve his home and palm forest for future generations, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to The Merwin Conservancy.

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Haiku, HI 96708 
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