• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

The Merwin Conservancy

We tend a garden that speaks to the world.

  • About
    • Our Story
    • W.S. Merwin
    • The Home & Garden
    • Staff & Garden Team
    • Directors & Advisors
    • Volunteers
  • Garden
    • A Walk in the Garden
    • Open Garden Days
    • School Visits
    • Artists in the Garden
    • Garden Gallery
  • Fellowships & Residencies
    • Merwin Creative Teaching Fellowship
    • Multidisciplinary Residencies
  • Gatherings
    • The Green Room
    • Pe‘ahi Stories: A Place Literacy Project
    • Garden of Verses 2022: Virtual Event
    • Memorial Events & Tributes
  • Journal
    • Poems
    • Palms
    • Directorʻs Notes
    • In Good Company
    • News & Events
    • Pe‘ahi Stories
    • Storied Objects
  • The Sitting Room
  • Donate
You are here: Home / Poems / “Convenience” by W.S. Merwin

“Convenience” by W.S. Merwin

April 24, 2017 By Merwin Conservancy

Photo by Sara Tekula

CONVENIENCE

We were not made in its image
but from the beginning we believed in it
not for the pure appeasement of hunger
but for its availability
it could command our devotion
beyond question and without our consent
and by whatever name we have called it
in its name love has been set aside
unmeasured time has been devoted to it
forests have been erased and rivers poisoned
and truth has been relegated for it
wars have been sanctified by it
we believe that we have a right to it
even though it belongs to no one
we carry a way back to it everywhere
we are sure that it is saving something
we consider it our personal savior
all we have to pay for it is ourselves

— W.S. Merwin, from his book The Moon Before Morning (Copper Canyon Press). Copyright © 2014 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.

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Footer

SUBSCRIBE TO MONTHLY UPDATES

Search this Site

LATEST FROM THE JOURNAL

This Unfolding Story

Brian Selznick in the Green Room on May 20th

CONNECT

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

The Merwin Conservancy

P.O. Box 809 
Haiku, HI 96708 
808-579-8876
info@merwinconservancy.org

  • Subscribe
  • Read Our Newsletter
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 The Merwin Conservancy · Log in

 

Loading Comments...