Quotes from James Merrill

The eggshell of appearance split.

Love buries itself in me, up to the hilt.

Beneath my incredulity All at once is flowing Joy, the flash of the unbaited hook -- Yes, yes, it fits, it's right, it had to be! Intuition weightless and ongoing Like stanzas in a book Or golden scales in the melodic brook --

Our little party Got under way as best it could. The twigs Unclenched, the greedy rosebuds caked with smut. The ill-knit creatures, now in hues Of sunstroke, mulberry, white of clown, Yellow of bile, bruise-blacks-and-blues, Stumped outward, waving matchstick arms, Colliding, poking, hurt, in tears

Maya departs for city, cat, and lover. The days grow shorter. Summer's over. We take long walks among the flying leaves And ponder turnings taken by our lives. Look at each other closely, as friends will On parting. This is not farewell, Not now. Yet something in the sad End-of-season light remains unsaid.

But you were everywhere beside me, masked, As who was not, in laughter, pain, and love.

Strange about parents. We have such easy access to them and such daunting problems of communication.

Knowing some Greek helped defuse forbidding words - not that I counted much on using them. You'll find only trace elements of this language in the poem.