W.S. Merwin. 
 
Copper Canyon Press: 2005. First edition. Hardcover in a jacket. Octavo. A ripple on the dust jacket's spine. There are ripples along the spine of the book as well. Minor bumping on two of the corners of the boards. 545 pages. Very good. Signed. 
 
Greatest hits alongside a healthy portion of new poems. This type of collection is special. The poet, after decades shedding youthful, formal selves and pushing toward free verse and literary elder statesmanship, also lets you celebrate the voices they had been. Then again, it just might be great because it's signed Merwin. 
 
"To the Words 
 
When it happens you are not there 
 
O you beyond numbers 
beyond recollection 
passed on from breath to breath 
given again 
from day to day from age 
to age 
charged with knowledge 
knowing nothing"