Another collection of poems that I am reading is the most recent by the poet W. S. Merwin. "Present Company" is a series of over 100 odes to many aspects of Merwin's life and world. If there is an over-arching theme to the collection it is a wanting; a missing of things gone by.
A prime example of this motif can be seen in the anonymous poem:
To ----------------------
There is no reason
for me to keep counting
how long it has been
since you were here
alive one morning
as though I were
letting out the string
of a kite one day at a time
over my finger
when there is no string
Merwin is a national treasure, and his career has spanned many decades. Many of the poets who started out with him are no longer with us. This poem could be written for any one of them, or all, or none. Yet it suggests that longevity comes with a price of its own.
I hope Merwin will be around for many years to come and continue to offer his reflections and insights though his poems.
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