Friday Poetry

I was so moved by the Memorial Service held for the victims of last weekend's tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. As soon as I heard the poetry selection read at the ceremony, I new I'd be posting it today for Friday Poetry. I must thank Joshua Robbins for having posted the poem earlier this week. The poem was written by W.S. Merwin. W.S. Merwin is the seventeenth United States Poet Laureate. The poem can be found in a collection of poems by W.S. Merwin in Present Company.

To the New Year

With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible

This week's roundup of Poetry Friday can be found with Laura Salas.