THERE IS A SILENCE NOW, BEYOND THE FIELDS

There is a silence now, beyond the fields

behind the boundary of firs

where the river shudders & smoothes

passed over by herons, troubled by fish

I thought I called your name

with each hard breath

I thought your steps, though you stumbled

would bring you home at last

The woods fill with shadows.

In town I can’t see the stars.

Is there something here still

something forgotten

what bright thing guides us

here where the world keeps ending

Got a report back from the recent WS Merwin (and Robert Haas) reading down south a bit; seems Merwin was asked to limit his reading to poems about land and such. I ask you. My informant said he seemed annoyed, but read with full intensity, particularly the latest poems. I am envious; would have loved to have been there.