William Stanley Merwin

Here you will find the Poem Some Last Questions of poet William Stanley Merwin

Some Last Questions

What is the head
 A. Ash
What are the eyes
 A. The wells have fallen in and have
 Inhabitants
What are the feet
 A. Thumbs left after the auction
No what are the feet
 A. Under them the impossible road is moving
 Down which the broken necked mice push
 Balls of blood with their noses
What is the tongue
 A. The black coat that fell off the wall
 With sleeves trying to say something
What are the hands
 A. Paid
No what are the hands
 A. Climbing back down the museum wall
 To their ancestors the extinct shrews that will
 Have left a message
What is the silence
 A. As though it had a right to move
Who are the compatriots
 A. They make the stars of bone