Poems That Changed Me

Ethel shared her personal connection to W.S. Merwin’s Late Spring.

Coming into the high room again after years
after oceans and shadows of hills and the sounds of lies
after losses and feet on stairs

after looking and mistakes and forgetting
turning there thinking to find
no one except those I knew
finally I saw you
sitting in white
already waiting

you of whom I had heard
with my own ears since the beginning
for whom more than once
I have opened the door
believing you were not far

Coming into the high room again after years

after oceans and shadows of hills and the

sounds of lies

after losses and feet on stairs

after looking and mistakes and forgetting

turning there thinking to find

no one except those I knew

finally I saw you

sitting in white

already waiting

you of whom I had heard

with my own ears since the beginning

for whom more than once

I have opened the door

believing you were not far

Poems That Changed Me, a project by Dean Radar, shines a tiny spotlight on works that make us think about our lives in relation to language, the past, the future, and each other.