Where We Have Come

The Parish Church of St. Margaret of Antioch, Edgware

To the New Year
With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible

By W. S. Merwin
Author of The Shadow of Sirius
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 2009
Poet Laureate of the United States, 2010 - 2011

Thanks Barb McFadden for the poetic reference!

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Where we have been . . .
The Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Worth

Worth Hall Lodge, Near Crawley

Cobham, Surrey

Heathrow Airport