“Waves in August” by W.S. Merwin

WAVES IN AUGUST

There is a war in the distance
with the distance growing smaller
the field glasses lying at hand
are for keeping it far away

I thought I was getting better
about that returning childish
wish to be living somewhere else
that I knew was impossible
and now I find myself wishing
to be here to be alive here
it is impossible enough
to still be the wish of a child

in youth I hid a boat under
the bushes beside the water
knowing I would want it later
and come back and would find it there
someone else took it and left me
instead the sound of the water
with its whisper of vertigo

terror reassurance an old
old sadness it would seem we knew
enough always about parting
but we have to go on learning
as long as there is anything

—W.S. Merwin, from The River Sound (A.A. Knopf, 1999), and included in the National Book Award-winning collection Migration: New & Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2005).

Copyright © 2005 by W. S. Merwin.

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Featured photo by Wayne Dollemore, used under Creative Commons license.