Av W. S. Merwin
Gray whale
Now that we are sending you to The End
That great god
Tell him
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing
I write as though you could understand
And I could say it
One must always pretend something
Among the dying
When you have left the seas nodding on their stalks
Empty of you
Tell him that we were made
On another day
The bewilderment will diminish like an echo
Winding along your inner mountains
Unheard by us
And find its way out
Leaving behind it the future
Dead
And ours
When you will not see again
The whale calves trying the light
Consider what you will find in the black garden
And its court
The sea cows the Great Auks the gorillas
The irreplaceable hosts ranged countless
And foreordaining as stars
Our sacrifices
Join your word to theirs
Tell him
That it is we who are important
//
«For a Coming Extinction» by W.S.Merwin. Copyright © W.S.Merwin, 2006, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited.
No changes shall be made to the Work without the written consent of W. S. Merwin or W. S. Merwin’s representative.
No further use of this material in extended distribution, other media, or future editions shall be made without the
express written consent of The Wylie Agency. All rights not expressly granted herein are hereby reserved and retained
by W. S. Merwin.»
Merwin is a former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and has served as Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress. He served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2010 to 2011. He currently lives and works in Hawaii. (Source: poets.org)
Norwegian Writer´s Climate Campaign says thank you for the poem, Mr. Merwin!
KLIMAAKSJON / NORWEGIAN WRITERS´ CLIMATE CAMPAIGN // NWCC 
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