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You are here: Home / Poems / “The Wild Geese” by W.S. Merwin

“The Wild Geese” by W.S. Merwin

September 6, 2016 By Sara Tekula

Nene at Namana o ke Akua Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii. Photo: Forest & Kim Starr
Nēnē at Namana o ke Akua Haleakalā National Park, Maui, Hawaii. Photo: Forest & Kim Starr

THE WILD GEESE

It was always for the animals that I grieved most
for the animals I had seen and for those
I had only heard of or dreamed about
or seen in cages or lying beside the road
for those forgotten and those long remembered
for the lost ones that were never found again
among people there were words we all knew
even if we did not say them and although
they were always inadequate when we said them
they were there if we wanted them when the time came
with the animals always there was only
presence as long as it was present and then
only absence suddenly and no word for it
in all the great written wisdom of China
where are the animals when were they lost
where are the ancestors who knew the way
without them all wise words are bits of sand
twitching on the dunes where the forests
once whispered in their echoing ancient tongue
and the animals knew their way among the trees
only in the old poems does their presence survive
the gibbons call from the mountain gorges
the old words all deepen the great absence
the vastness of all that has been lost
it is still there when the poet in exile
looks up long ago hearing the voices
of wild geese far above him flying home

– W.S. Merwin, from his forthcoming book Garden Time (Copper Canyon Press, 2016).  Copyright © 2016 by W. S. Merwin.  Used by permission of the publishers, www.coppercanyonpress.org.


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.

Nēnē photo above is by Forest & Kim Starr, taken at Namana o ke Akua Haleakalā National Park, Maui, Hawaii, and is used under Creative CommonsAttribution 2.0 Generic License (CC BY-2.0). It can be found online here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Barbara Sheridan says

    September 6, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    Brought tears to my eyes. Bless you William! I just ordered a copy of your forthcoming book from Words, our Maplewood. NJ bookstore, a few days ago. I’m anticipating savoring your always astounding and moving poetry. I was just in Hawaii for the first time this past spring, and will be returning with my sister next March. She too is a great appreciator of your writings. My husband Craig and I send love to you and to Paula.

  2. Kathy Lewis says

    September 7, 2016 at 9:26 am

    This is Beautiful William!
    Thank you.
    I saw the copy of “the Garden” that my sister Joani had. I’m ordering it for my Seth’s birthday. He well, remembers your garden, and you both.
    I’m Sending Aloha.
    Kathy

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