In memoriam William Stafford
YAGUCHI:
In an Ainu house an old Ainu
Woman’s recital was flying like bees.
BLY:
Her voice brought honey into the room,
And the bees were preserved in that honey.
YAGUCHI:
Honey tastes of wildflowers, out of which
The songs of the bush-warblers come flying.
BLY:
There is water dripping in the deep forests;
And the gods eat the cries of the bush-warblers.
YAGUCHI:
here is a deep well covered by grasses;
And I remember the womb I was in.
BLY:
No one knows the silence of the high peaks.
But I sometimes hear Stafford’s voice in the bushes.
YAGUCHI:
Suddenly silence flies up in the form
Of a bird from a bush nearby.
BLY:
I think the dead spend a lot of time
During the day in the nests of shy birds.
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