On the last day of the world

I've blipped several of W.S. Merwin's translations of famous Pablo Neruda poems over the years - but not sure I've ever blipped one of his own ...

... sadly, he died last month, and here's one of my very favourite Merwin-verses, as taken from the pictured (and really, rather wonderful) 2017 collection:


Place

On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree

what for
not the fruit

the tree that bears the fruit
is not the one that was planted

I want the tree that stands
in the earth for the first time

with the sun already
going down

and the water
touching its roots

in the earth full of the dead
and the clouds passing

one by one
over its leaves

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W.S. Merwin (1927 - 2019)

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