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“Before That” by W. S. Merwin 🇺🇸 (30 Sep 1927 – 15 Mar 2019)
It was never there and already it’s vanishing
​
City unhealthy pale with pictures of
Cemeteries sifting on its windows
Its planets with wind in their eyes searching among
The crosses again
At night
In dark clothes
​
It was never there
​
Papers news from the desert
Moving on or
Kip in go their
Voices
​
The river flowing past its other shore
Past the No Names the windows washed at night
And who is my
Name for
​
In my pocket
Slowly the photographs becoming saints
Never there
​
I put out my hand and the dark falls through it
Following a fag
​
Gutters made in my time rounded with
The wounded in mind
The streets roped off for the affectionate
​
Will do for the
Mutilated
​
If I
Lie down in the street and that smoke comes out of me
​
Who
Was it
​
It was a night like this that the ashes were made
​
Before that
Was always the fire