poem: A weekly poem, read by the author.

MemorandumMemorandum

By W.S. Merwin
Posted Thursday, Oct. 1, 1998, at 3:30 AM ET


By W.S. Merwin

(posted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 1998)

To hear the poet read "Memorandum," click here.

Save these words for a while because
of something they remind you of
although you cannot remember
what that is a sense that is part
dust and part the light of morning

you were about to say a name
and it is not there I forget
them too I am learning to pray
to Perdita to whom I said
nothing at the time and now she
cannot hear me as far as I
know but the day goes on looking

the names often change more slowly
than the meanings whole families
grow up in them and then are gone
into the anonymous sky
oh Perdita does the hope go on
after the names are forgotten

and is the pain of the past done
when the calling has stopped and those
betrayals so long repeated
that they are taken for granted
as the shepherd does with the sheep

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Lilly Prize-winner W.S. Merwin's latest book of poetry is The Vixen. His "The Folding Cliffs" will be published in October.
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