For the Anniversary of My Death

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day

When the last fires will wave to me

And the silence will set out

Tireless traveler

Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer

Find myself in life as in a strange garment

Surprised at the earth

And the love of one woman

And the shamelessness of men

As today writing after three days of rain

Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease

And bowing not knowing to what

MARGINALIA

Death has touched this house once more. My grandfather’s cousin, sick in the same way my  lolo  was sick, tried to kill himself  again  a few days ago. He deliberately pushed himself down a flight of stairs, breaking his bones, our hearts. We just got the phone call. He passed away in his sleep at the hospital, free from this world finally.

Oh, but to have such days repeated. This man, who was so much like my  lolo . I’m scared of what this means for all of us. I’m scared to see my father cry again. Two years after having someone you know die: I’m scared of going through that again.

KEEP READING

SHARED WITH GRATITUDE

This poem appeared in    Naked Poetry: Recent American Poetry in Open Forms  by W. S. Merwin  , published by The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. , 1969. (Available on:  Amazon  •  Bookshop )

ABOUT W. S. MERWIN

William Stanley (W.S.) Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and raised in New Jersey and Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of a Presbyterian minister. His numerous collections of poetry, his translations, and his books of prose have won praise over seven decades. He won nearly every award available to an American poet, and he was named U.S. poet laureate twice. His first collection of poetry,   A Mask for Janus   (1952), was chosen for the Yale Younger Poets Prize. Merwin is also an …  (more)

William Stanley (W.S.) Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and raised in New Jersey and Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of a Presbyterian minister. His numerous collections of poetry, his translations, and his books of prose have won praise over seven decades. He won nearly every award available to an American poet, and he was named U.S. poet laureate twice. His first collection of poetry,   A Mask for Janus   (1952), was chosen for the Yale Younger Poets Prize. Merwin is also an accomplished and prolific translator of poetry. Merwin died in March 2019 at the age of 91. ( Source )

(less)

Read more poems by  W. S. Merwin  • Find books by this poet on  Amazon  •  Bookshop  •  Or view my library

ENDNOTES

Explore other works in pursuit of:  transcendence  •  mortality  •  wonder  •  Or browse the index

If this work resonates with you,   please consider supporting the archive  . Thank you for reading.

ON THIS DAY

On This Day

When I Kneel, I Don’t Think of a God by Farnaz Fatemi

2025

I Know You Think I’ve Forgotten by Jane Hirshfield

2024

For the Anniversary of My Death by W.S. Merwin

2011