I can't imagine ever writing anything of any kind on a machine. I never tried to write either poetry or prose on a typewriter. I like to do it on useless paper, scrap paper, because it's of no importance.
W. S. MerwinRead
You grieve Not that heaven does not exist but That it exists without us
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the sorrow of not being part of a greater existence that one believes in.
W. S. Merwin's quote captures a profound sense of loss and longing. It suggests that the grief stems not from an absence of heaven, but rather from the realization that such a paradise exists beyond the reach of our existence. This speaks to the human condition of feeling disconnected from something greater and the existential sorrow that accompanies that realization.
Themes
GriefExistencePhilosophyHeavenLonging
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy, to express the idea of loss and longing for those who have passed.
More from W. S. Merwin
All quotes βI think there's a kind of desperate hope built into poetry that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time.
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The kind of writing that matters most to me is something you don't learn about. It's constantly coming out of what I don't know rather than what I do know.
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I say to my breath once again, little breath come from in front of me, go away behind me, row me quietly now, as far as you can, for I am an abyss that I am trying to cross.
W. S. MerwinRead
Through all of youth I was looking for you_x000D_ without knowing what I was looking for_x000D_ part memory part distance remaining _x000D_ mine in the ways that I learn to miss you_x000D_ from what we cannot hold the stars are made.
W. S. MerwinRead
What I really believe is the only hopeful relation between our life and the whole of life is one of reverence and respect and of feeling at one with it. The other attitude which is the one our society is based on is devastating and it is killing the earth and it is killing us too.
W. S. MerwinRead
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