'...oh it is the autumn light/that brings everything back in one hand/the light again of beginnings...'
This poem reminds me so much of Albert Camus' quote that 'Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.' For WS Mervin, Autumn is a new beginning too.
September Plowing - WS Mervin
For seasons the walled meadow
south of the house built of its stone
grows up in shepherd's purse and thistles
the weeds share April as a secret
finches disguised as summer earth
click the drying seeds
mice run over rags of parchment in August
the hare keeps looking up remembering
a hidden joy fills the songs of the cicadas
two days' rain wakes the green in the pastures
crows agree and hawks shriek with naked voices
on all sides the dark oak woods leap up and shine
the long stony meadow is plowed at last and lies
all day bare
I consider life after life as treasures
oh it is the autumn light
that brings everything back in one hand
the light again of beginnings
the amber appearing as amber
I've read bits and pieces of WS Merwin over the years and I'm always pleasantly surprised by his writing - every time I read a poem, I promise myself I will buy his collected works, but I still haven't got around to it!!! This is lovely, all golden-feeling and dewy and quiet.
ReplyDeleteOh! AND I used that very Albert Camus quote for the title on a recent blog - I love these little synchronicities :-)
Same here Cheryl, haven't bought a collection yet... (he's on my to-get list) and have come to increasingly love his work. His poems are all so subtle, 'dewy and quiet' as you say, beautiful fragile entities, but with so much behind them. ( I love how they use no punctuation and because of this sort of hover on the page, untethered and open to many interpretations...)
ReplyDeleteOh lovely, love that quote. Autumn isn't my favourite season, but letting these poems beguile me over to its loveliness! Great to hear you're back blogging again too :) Synchronicities, yes, love it when they happen! :)