The New Song

Last year:
Mom: Tin go outside and play in the back yard.
Tin: No. There’s no one out there to play with.

Last month:
Mom: Go outside and jump on the trampoline.
Tin: Can you come with me?

Last week:
Tin: Mom, can I go outside with Stella and play?
Mom: Yes!

The New Song
For some time I thought there was time
and that there would always be time
for what I had a mind to do
and what I could imagine
going back to and finding it
as I had found it the first time
but by this time I do not know
what I thought when I thought back then

there is no time yet it grows less
there is the sound of rain at night
arriving unknown in the leaves
once without before or after
then I hear the thrush waking
at daybreak singing the new song

W. S. MERWIN
The Moon Before Morning
Copper Canyon Press

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