W. S. Merwin (1927–2019) was born in New York City. His book Migration: Selected Poems 1951–2001 won the National Book Award for poetry in 2005, and he has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In 2010 Merwin was named Poet Laureate of the United States, and in 2013 he was the first recipient of the International Zbigniew Herbert Prize. Merwin lived and worked in Hawaii, where he maintained a garden of rare and endangered palm trees.

To the New Year

by W. S. Merwin

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

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