[Vision2020] "To The New Year" by U.S. Poet Laureate William S. Merwin

[Tom Hansen]

University of Arizona President Robert Shelton read the following W.S.
Merwin poem at today's (January 12, 2011) memorial event concerning the
January 8 tragedy in Tucson.

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"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

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An excellent, and appropriate, poem

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"People turn to poetry in times of crisis because it comes closer than any
other art form to addressing what cannot be said."

- W. S. Merwin