The Graceful Poet
As I think about
my American heroes
still living in my mind,
I can't help thinking about
recently deceased poet
W. S. Merwin,
Pulitzer Prize winner
U.S. Poet Laureate.
On May 10, 2013,
I had the good fortune
to join young NYC friends
at the 92nd Street Y
We listened to the great poet
talk lovingly
poetry and art.
Unsurprisingly, he talked
brilliantly about length and breadth
of the last 2500 years
of humanity.
He read a few poems
from memory,
he was gracefully
going blind.
"Now all my teachers
are dead except silence."
Steve Heins