NEAR FIELD
This is not something new or kept secret
the tilled ground unsown in late spring
the dead are not separate from the living
each has one foot in the unknown
and cannot speak for the other
the field tells none of its turned story
it lies under its low cloud like a waiting river
the dead made this out of their hunger
out of what they had been told
out of the pains and shadows
and bowels of animals
out of turning and
coming back singing
about another time
— W.S. Merwin, from his book The Shadow of Sirius, (2009, Copper Canyon Press), used by permission of the publishers. Copyright © 2009 by W. S. Merwin.
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