More from and about our poet laureate. "In the 1980s and 1990s, Merwin's writing influence derived from his interest in Buddhist philosophy," so says an on-line biography. In the late 1970s he had moved to Hawaii where, for many years, he immersed himself in Buddhist practice, philosophy and spirituality, and a sense of stewardship toward the environment. But these three more recent poems suggest an evolving spirituality, coming full circle, perhaps, and reflecting more influence from his deistic spiritual foundations and those of his father, a Presbyterian minister. I can understand, even relate to that, but for me more in my middle years of life than the later ones. In the later years, it has been the earlier influences of the East and Middle East that have again demanded more understanding and integration into what I know and my ability to apprehend, to see, the whole more clearly.
But perhaps I reach too far, try to hard, to see or hear what I'd like to: something resembling or implying interdisciplinary, cultural and spiritual synthesis--and a broader, tiered sense of transcendence, incomplete without a view that turns both East and West with respect and sympathetic understanding. And it is also incomplete if it does not reconcile and integrate effectively the cultural and spiritual foundations of early experience and identity. They have to be reconciled and integrated with that larger synthesis that has been evolving in us over time--even if only to refute and disavow them, but the refutation and disavowal must satisfy, not only on an intellectual level, but on a spiritual and emotional level, too.
I think these poems suggest Merwin's spirituality has evolved in those directions (or has long been there), influenced by both his early and more current intuitions of deity, and if not Christ or more conventional notions of God, then something evolved from them, his meditations and contemplation. Let's read them and see what you think.
To The Gods*
When did you stoptelling us what we could believe
when did you take that one steponly oneaboveall that
as once you steppedout of each of the storiesabout you one after the otherand out of whateverwe imagined we knewof you
who were the lightto begin withand all the darknessat the same timeand the voice in themcalling cryingand the enormous answerneither coming nor goingbut too fast to hear
you let us believethe names for youwhenever we heard themyou let us believe the storieshow death came to behow the light happenedhow the beginning beganyou let us believeall that
then you let us believethat we had invented youand that we no longerbelieved in youand that you were only storiesthat we did not believe
you with nomoment for beginningno place to endone step aboveall that
listen to uswaitbelieve in us
To Finding Again*
Everything else must have changedmust be differentby the time you appearmore than ever the same
taking me by surprisein my differencemy agelong after I had cometo the endof believing in youto the end of hope
which was not eventhe first of the changes
when I imaginedthat I was forgeting youyou did not even need memoryto remain thereletting the years vanishthe miles depart
nothing surprising in that
even longingdoes not need memoryto know what to reach forand nothing surprises youwho were always therewherever that was
beyond belief
To Being Late*
Again again you arethe right time after all
not according tohowever we planned it
unforeseen and yetonly too well knownmislaid horizonwhere we come to ourselvesas though we had been expected
you are where it appears nowand will stay from now onin its own good timeit was you we came toin the first placehearing voices around usbefore we knew what they said
but you always surprise usit is you that wehurry towhile you go on waitingto the end of space
and when we get to youwe stop and listentrying to hear whetheryou are still there
*from Present Company, poems by W.S. Merwin (2007)
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