(no subject)
from THE STATION
....Yet in spite of the circling arguments
Which grew desperate several times before morning
Everyone knew that it was all decided:
That some, even who spoke with most eloquence
Of the glories of exodus and the country
Waiting to be taken, would be found
Scrabbling next day for the patch of ground
Nearest the shelter, or sneaking back
The way they had come, or hiring themselves out
As guides to this point, and no one would be able
To explain what had stopped them there; any more
Than one would be able afterward to say
Why some who perhaps sat there saying least,
And not, to appearences, the bravest
Or best suited for such a journey,
At first light would get up and go on.
--W.S. Merwin
....Yet in spite of the circling arguments
Which grew desperate several times before morning
Everyone knew that it was all decided:
That some, even who spoke with most eloquence
Of the glories of exodus and the country
Waiting to be taken, would be found
Scrabbling next day for the patch of ground
Nearest the shelter, or sneaking back
The way they had come, or hiring themselves out
As guides to this point, and no one would be able
To explain what had stopped them there; any more
Than one would be able afterward to say
Why some who perhaps sat there saying least,
And not, to appearences, the bravest
Or best suited for such a journey,
At first light would get up and go on.
--W.S. Merwin