• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

The Merwin Conservancy

We tend a garden that speaks to the world.

  • About
    • The Conservancy
    • W.S. Merwin
    • The Home & Garden
    • Staff & Garden Team
    • Directors & Advisors
    • Volunteers
  • Garden
    • Open Garden Days
    • School Visits
    • Artists in the Garden
    • Garden Gallery
  • Fellowships & Residencies
    • Merwin Creative Teaching Fellowship
    • Multidisciplinary Residencies
  • Gatherings
    • Pe‘ahi Stories: Talk Story Gatherings
    • Garden of Verses 2021: Virtual Event
    • The Green Room LIVE
    • 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 / “To the Margin,” by W.S. Merwin

“To the Margin,” by W.S. Merwin

October 22, 2020 By Sara Tekula

TO THE MARGIN

Following the black
footprints the tracks
of words that have passed that way
before me I come
again and again to
your blank shore

not the end yet
but there is nothing more
to be seen there
to be read to be followed
to be understood
and each time I turn
back to go on
in the same way
that I draw the next breath

the wider you are
the emptier and the more
innocent of any
signal the more
precious the text
feels to me as I make
my way through it reminding
myself listening
for any sound from you

–W.S. Merwin, from Present Company (2005, Copper Canyon Press), used by permission of the publishers. Copyright © 2005 by W. S. Merwin.  


To browse through our archive of Featured Poems, click here.

To support the preservation of W.S. Merwin’s legacy and our efforts to preserve his living legacy 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)

Related

Footer

SUBSCRIBE TO MONTHLY UPDATES

Search this Site

LATEST FROM THE JOURNAL

Belonging to Places

“The Other House,” by W.S. Merwin

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
  • Job Opportunities
  • Contact

Copyright © 2022 The Merwin Conservancy · Log in

 

Loading Comments...