The search ends

David has been searching for this poem by W.S. Merwin for years. He first read it in the New Yorker in '98 or '99, and then tried to find it in one of Merwin's poetry collections, to no avail. He finally found it on Maggi Dawn's blog.


"listen

with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridge to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glassrooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you.
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars
and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable unchanged
we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is."

So here's to Maggi Dawn and to the end of the search. And to finding hope and gratitude in the midst of this chaos.

By the way, Maggi Dawn is an Anglican priest/theologian/author who writes about the emerging church and postmodernism. Check out her blog. I especially like her comments on women in ministry (and the lack of female voices in the emerging movement).