Thank you my




The Poem-A-Day email was titled "Remembering W S Merwin", who died day before yesterday. Merwin was once Poet Laureate of the United States. He named this poem "Variation on a Theme" and it appeals to me for reasons that could only belong to an old man and do not bear explaining outside my own mind and Being.



Thank you my life long afternoon
late in this spring that has no age
my window above the river
for the woman you led me to
when it was time at last the words
coming to me out of mid-air
that carried me through the clear day
and come even now to find me
for old friends and echoes of them
those mistakes only I could make
homesickness that guides the plovers
from somewhere they had loved before
they knew they loved it to somewhere
they had loved before they saw it
thank you good body hand and eye
and the places and moments known
only to me revisiting
once more complete just as they are
and the morning stars I have seen
and the dogs who are guiding me


It's quite clear within the poem and also from other considerations of his awarenesses, including a 2008 collection "The Shadow of Sirius" that won him the 2009 Putlizer Prize, that by the dogs he's talking about Sirius the Dog Star. Who also was Harry Potter's protector in the series. 

W S Merwin, I'm not familiar with him and his work, but I'm sufficiently intrigued with this poem to explore him a little more this afternoon after Sunday's events. I wonder if not using punctuation and only the opening capital letter is typical for him. Lined as poetry, it makes for some going back to see clearly where the commas and periods (full stops) would go.

Apologies to W S that this poem doesn't go well with Verdana, which I only like and use because of the serif on the capital i I. So I think I'll change it maybe to Times. 

T