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You are here: Home / Poems / “Finding a Teacher” by W.S. Merwin

“Finding a Teacher” by W.S. Merwin

May 22, 2017 By Merwin Conservancy

Kahawai flowing January 2017

FINDING A TEACHER

In the woods I came on an old friend fishing
and I asked him a question
and he said Wait

fish were rising in the deep stream
but his line was not stirring
but I waited
it was a question about the sun

about my two eyes
my ears my mouth
my heart the earth with its four seasons
my feet where I was standing
where I was going

it slipped through my hands
as though it were water
into the river
it flowed under the trees
it sank under hulls far away
and was gone without me
then where I stood night fell

I no longer knew what to ask
I could tell that his line had no hook
I understood that I was to stay and eat with him

— W.S. Merwin, from his book Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment. Copyright © 1973 by W. S. Merwin.  Included in The Essential W.S. Merwin, available now on pre-order. 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.

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