Ash
The church in the forest
was built of wood
the faithful carved their names by the doors
same names as ours
soldiers burned it down
the next church where the first had stood
was built of wood
with charcoal floors
names were written in black by the doors
same names as ours
soldiers burned it down
we have a church where the others stood
it’s made of ash
no roof no doors
nothing on earth
says it’s ours
*
Hello Friends —
Today’s poem comes from the punctuation-free works of W.S. Merwin, in his 1973 collection Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment.
April is National Poetry Month, and I am celebrating by emailing out my own eclectic selection of one poem per day for the duration of the month. If you wish to be unsubscribed from this Poem-a-Day email list at any time, please reply to this email with a friendly unsubscribe request (preferably in heroic couplet form). You may also request to add a consenting friend to the list, or even nominate a poem.
To learn more about National Poetry Month, or to subscribe to a more official-like Poem-a-Day list, visit www.poets.org.
Enjoy.
Ellen
“Ash” by W.S. Merwin was featured again for Poem-a-Day April 16, 2010.
Poems by W.S. Merwin were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 17, 2008 and Poem-a-Day April 9, 2009.