Welcome back to the Daily Poem here on the Close Reeds Podcast Network. I'm David Kern.

Today's poem is by W.S. Merwin, who died over the weekend. He died on Friday at the age of 91.

He was an American poet who wrote over 50 books of poetry and prose and was involved in quite a bit

of translation as well. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and in 2009, the National

Book Award for Poetry in 2005, and in 2010 the Library of Congress named him the 17th United

States Poet Laureate. If you saw the announcement of Merwin's death,

then you probably saw the poem that I'm going to be reading today.

It's one of his most famous poems,

but it seemed appropriate given his recent death.

He's a really great poet.

I hope that you'll check him out further if you are not well-versed in his poetry.

He has a book called The Essential W.S. Merwin from Copper Canyon Press, which is excellent.

It's got selections from many of his various collections throughout the years.

I believe it came out in 2017, and again, that's the Essential at W.S. Merwin, edited by Michael Wigers from Copper Canyon Press.

So here's today's poem by W.S. Merwin.

It's called 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,

...