“To the Light of September”
by W.S. Merwin
When you are already here
you appear to be only
a name that tells of you
whether you are present or not
and for now it seems as though
you are still summer
still the high familiar
endless summer
yet with a glint
of bronze in the chill mornings
and the late yellow petals
of the mullein fluttering
on the stalks that lean
over their broken
shadows across the cracked ground
Read the rest of the poem here
Please be sure to visit Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s lovely blog, The Poem Farm, for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
“a glint/of bronze in the chill mornings”–This line captures that change of light from summer to autumn perfectly. Then there’s that ending image of blue plums resting in the dew. Ahhhh. This is a lovely poem, Catherine. Thanks for sharing!
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Merwin really grows on me; year by year, it seems I like his work even more. And I’ve been feeling that “glint / of bronze in the chill mornings” lately, for sure! Thanks for posting this – a lovely choice.
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Gorgeous poem! Might be my favorite Merwin poem yet.
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So lovely, “still summer” but. . . Thanks for reminding of this poem, Catherine.
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Ah, yes…still summer, but not for long. I love the delicacy of his imagery.
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Ahh…those plums at the end.
It was October light, but one of my favorites was the morning when I went to visit the brilliant yellow gingko tree and found her bare, with a ring of golden light on the ground around her trunk.
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Your comment is a poem in itself, Mary Lee!
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Thank you, Catherine. September is a mixture of here and not here seasons.
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I just recently read this one for the first time! Thanks for bringing it to my attention again. Where I live it certainly DOES feel like “still the high familiar endless summer.” Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Your post sent me on a quest to read more and more of Merwin. Thanks.
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My mornings haven’t quite gotten to chill yet, but a mere cool has me anticipating the glint of bronze.
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I do love poems that honor a special time of year, a type of light and feel in the air. Thank you. Copying. xx
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Beautiful.
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