This TSP is from W.S. Merwin’s wonderful new collection, The Shadow of Sirius. In his eighties now, Merwin’s voice is as strong as ever, and his talent for writing about beauty and memory and time remains undiminished. This is a lovely one.
One of the Butterflies
The trouble with pleasure is the timing
it can overtake me without warning
and be gone before I know it is here
it can stand facing me unrecognized
while I am remembering somewhere else
in another age or someone not seen
for years and never to be seen again
in this world and it seems that I cherish
only now a joy I was not aware of
when it was here although it remains
out of reach and will not be caught or named
or called back and if I could make it stay
as I want to it would turn into pain