W. S. MERWIN - “Memorandum”

Save these words for a while because

of something they remind you of

although you cannot remember

what that is a sense that is part

dust and part the light of morning

you were about to say a name

and it is not there I forget

them too I am learning to pray

to Perdita to whom I said

nothing at the time and now she

cannot hear me as far as I

know but the day goes on looking

the names often change more slowly

than the meanings whole families

grow up in them and then are gone

into the anonymous sky

O Perdita does the hope go on

after the names are forgotten

and is the pain of the past done

when the calling has stopped and those

betrayals so long repeated

that they are taken for granted

as the shepherd does with the sheep