W.S. Merwin

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY DEATH

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what

- W.S. Merwin, born 30 September 1927.

A celebrated American poet, he has received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and 2009. In 2010, the Library of Congress named him the seventeenth U.S. Poet Laureate to replace the outgoing Kay Ryan.