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You are here: Home / Poems / “A Single Autumn,” W.S. Merwin

“A Single Autumn,” W.S. Merwin

June 29, 2022 By Sara Tekula

A SINGLE AUTUMN

The year my parents died
one that summer one that fall
I moved into the house
where they had lived their last years
it had never been theirs
and was still theirs in that way
for a while

echoes in every room
without a sound
all the things that we
had never been able to say
I could not remember

doll collection
in a china cabinet
plates stacked on shelves
lace on drop-leaf tables
a dried branch of bittersweet
before a hall mirror
were all planning to wait

the glass doors of the house
remained closed
the days had turned cold
and out in the tall hickories
the blaze of autumn had begun
on its own

I could do anything

– W.S. Merwin, from his book The Shadow of Sirius (Copper Canyon Press, 2008)


To browse through our archive of W.S. Merwin’s poetry, click here.

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