W. S. Merwin: Twelve Poems

Audio: Hear W. S. Merwin read this poem (0:43) Vehicles (1994) The Speed of Light (1994) End of a Day (1994) Green Fields (1995) Another River (1997) Echoing Light (1997) Remembering (1997) Shore Birds (1998) Before the Flood (1998) Unknown Bird (1999) Any Time (1999) Term (1999) Also see: Swimming Up Into Poetry The Atlantic's longtime poetry editor reflects on the career of W. S. Merwin, whose long association with the magazine spans great distances of geography and art (August 1997)

Term (1999)

At the last minute a word is waiting
not heard that way before and not to be
repeated or ever be remembered
one that always had been a household word
used in speaking of the ordinary
everyday recurrences of living
not newly chosen or long considered
or a matter for comment afterward
who would ever have thought it was the one
saying itself from the beginning through
all its uses and circumstances to
utter at last that meaning of its own
for which it had long been the only word
though it seems now that any word would do

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