--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...Yes, now the roads themselves are…" description: "\"“...Yes, now the roads themselves are shattered As though they had fallen from a height, and the sky Is cracked like varnish. Hard to believe, Our fami..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a27/w-s-merwin-2-23725_family_yes-now-the-roads-themselves-are-shatter_1200368.jpg" --- # ...Yes, now the roads themselves are shattered As though… ![“...Yes, now the roads themselves are shattered As though they had fallen from a height, and the sky Is cracked like varnish. Hard to believe, Our family tree Seems to be making its mark everywhere. I carry my head high On a pike that shall be nameless. Even so, we had to give up honor entirely…” quote by W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a27/w-s-merwin-2-23725_family_yes-now-the-roads-themselves-are-shatter_1200368.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a27/w-s-merwin-2-23725_family_yes-now-the-roads-themselves-are-shatter_1200368.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a27/w-s-merwin-2-23725_family_yes-now-the-roads-themselves-are-shatter_1200368.jpg) > ““...Yes, now the roads themselves are shattered As though they had fallen from a height, and the sky Is cracked like varnish. Hard to believe, Our family tree Seems to be making its mark everywhere. I carry my head high On a pike that shall be nameless. Even so, we had to give up honor entirely, But I do what I can. I am patient With the woes of the cupboards, and God knows― I keep the good word close to hand like a ticket. I feed the wounded lights in their cages. I wake up at night on the penultimate stroke, and with My eyes still shut I remember to turn the thorn In the breast of the bird of darkness. I listen to the painful song Dropping away into sleep...”” [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker reflects on devastation, duty, and perseverance amidst chaos, finding purpose in small acts of care. **In simple terms:** Even in ruin, we keep hope and help others. Key Takeaway Act with compassion despite hardship. Themes resilience duty hope Mood somber reflective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - war zones - family crises - personal loss - daily struggles Key Concepts existentialism caregiving Questions to Reflect On - How do you maintain purpose when everything feels broken? - What small acts sustain you? A Different Perspective Idealism may overlook systemic barriers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family/) [Family Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family-tree/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [“My family tree spreads wide as well. I am a great ape, and you are a great ape, and so are chimpanzees and orangutans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-applegate/my-family-tree-spreads-wide-as-well-i-am-a-great-ape-and-you-are-a/) [Katherine Applegate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-applegate/) > [You can say I had a severe case of 'Roots' envy. I wanted to be like Alex Haley, and I wanted to be able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-louis-gates/you-can-say-i-had-a-severe-case-of-roots-envy-i-wanted-to-be-like/) [Henry Louis Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-louis-gates/) > [Hereditary monarchy offers numerous advantages for America. It is the only form of government able to unify a heterogeneous people. Thanks to centuries of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-king/hereditary-monarchy-offers-numerous-advantages-for-america-it-is-the/) [Florence King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-king/) > [There was once a bundle of matches, and they were frightfully proud because of their high origin. Their family tree, that is to say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-andersen/there-was-once-a-bundle-of-matches-and-they-were-frightfully-proud/) [Hans Christian Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-andersen/) > [My cousin is gay, I always tell him that in our family tree, he's in the fruit section.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-dangerfield/my-cousin-is-gay-i-always-tell-him-that-in-our-family-tree-he-s-in/) [Rodney Dangerfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-dangerfield/) > [There's no traditional three act structure - or beginning, middle and end - to a family tree. By its nature, it has almost infinite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-piddock/there-s-no-traditional-three-act-structure-or-beginning-middle-and/) [Jim Piddock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-piddock/) > [“The day you appeared on our family tree, I wanted to cut it down.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-mcguire/the-day-you-appeared-on-our-family-tree-i-wanted-to-cut-it-down/) [Jamie McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-mcguire/) > [“You’re the one with the family tree that doesn’t branch.” She illustrated said tree with her fingers. “How many Egyptian gods slept with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/you-re-the-one-with-the-family-tree-that-doesn-t-branch-she/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [“But it’s a historic landmark, Kaine. And according to Grandpa Prescott’s old family Bible with the family tree, our great-great-grandmother lived in the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaime-jo-wright/but-it-s-a-historic-landmark-kaine-and-according-to-grandpa-prescott/) [Jaime Jo Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaime-jo-wright/) > [No matter your situation, you can make family history a part of your life right now. Primary children can draw a family tree. Youth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-m-nelson/no-matter-your-situation-you-can-make-family-history-a-part-of-your/) [Russell M. Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-m-nelson/) > [It's the greatest of Southern honors . . . to have one's name incorporated into a family tree. It's an honor not lightly given.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-holman/it-s-the-greatest-of-southern-honors-to-have-one-s-name-incorporated/) [Sheri Holman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-holman/) > [Food for her is not food, it is terror, dignity, gratitude, vengeance, joyfulness, humiliation, religion, history, and, of course, love. As if the fruit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/food-for-her-is-not-food-it-is-terror-dignity-gratitude-vengeance/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [“The only part of evolution in which any considerable interest is felt is evolution applied to man. A hypothesis in regard to the rocks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-jennings-bryan/the-only-part-of-evolution-in-which-any-considerable-interest-is-felt/) [William Jennings Bryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-jennings-bryan/) > [I was researching my family tree, and I was deeply hoping I was going to turn out to be Eastern European, but I'm not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-otto/i-was-researching-my-family-tree-and-i-was-deeply-hoping-i-was-going/) [Miranda Otto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-otto/) > [“The word is dissociate. There is no 'a' before the 'ss'. People invariably say dis-a-ssociate, which, if you're suffering Disso-ciative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-jamieson/the-word-is-dissociate-there-is-no-a-before-the-ss-people-invariably/) [Alice Jamieson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-jamieson/) ## More by W.S. Merwin > [“…Preserve my eyes, which are irreplaceable. Preserve my heart, veins, bones, Against the slow death building in them like hornets until the place is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/preserve-my-eyes-which-are-irreplaceable-preserve-my-heart-veins/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“all these years I have looked through your limbs to the river below and the roofs and the night and you were the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/all-these-years-i-have-looked-through-your-limbs-to-the-river-below/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“I have no way of telling what I miss I am the only one who misses it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/i-have-no-way-of-telling-what-i-miss-i-am-the-only-one-who-misses-it/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [ “The thing that makes poetry different from all other arts \[is that\] you're using language, which is what you use for everything else--telling lies… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/the-thing-that-makes-poetry-different-from-all-other-arts-is-that-you/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“A BIRTHDAY Something continues and I don't know what to call it though the language is full of suggestions in the way of language…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/a-birthday-something-continues-and-i-don-t-know-what-to-call-it/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“October" I remember how I would say, “I will gather These pieces together, Any minute now I will make A knife out of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/october-i-remember-how-i-would-say-i-will-gather-these-pieces/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“...The silence of a place where there were once horses is a mountain and I have seen by lightning that ever mountain once fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/the-silence-of-a-place-where-there-were-once-horses-is-a-mountain-and/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“In my youth I believed in somewhere else I put my faith in travel now I am becoming my own tree”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/in-my-youth-i-believed-in-somewhere-else-i-put-my-faith-in-travel-now/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“How beautiful you must be to have been able to lead me this far with only the sound of your going away”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/how-beautiful-you-must-be-to-have-been-able-to-lead-me-this-far-with/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“I turned to the room and in the light from the street beheld one beautiful bare breast of a friend's friend gently rising and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/i-turned-to-the-room-and-in-the-light-from-the-street-beheld-one/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“…Let all lights but yours be nothing to me. Let the memory of tongues not unnerve me so that I stumble or quake. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/let-all-lights-but-yours-be-nothing-to-me-let-the-memory-of-tongues/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“Tell me what you see vanishing and I will tell you who you are”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/tell-me-what-you-see-vanishing-and-i-will-tell-you-who-you-are/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“where will the meanings be when the words are forgotten will I see again where you are”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/where-will-the-meanings-be-when-the-words-are-forgotten-will-i-see/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“Place" On the last day of the world I would want to plant a tree what for not the fruit the tree that bears…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/place-on-the-last-day-of-the-world-i-would-want-to-plant-a-tree-what/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) > [“...The old bottles lay dreaming of new wine. I picked up my breast, which had gone out. By other lights I go looking for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin-2/the-old-bottles-lay-dreaming-of-new-wine-i-picked-up-my-breast-which/) [W.S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) [Explore all 25 W.S. Merwin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin-2/) ## More Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant. I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/what-does-he-look-like-the-question-was-soft-tentative-i-knew-who-he/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/) [Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/) > [“Life is like coffee, the darker it gets, the more it energizes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankita-singhal/life-is-like-coffee-the-darker-it-gets-the-more-it-energizes/) [Ankita Singhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankita-singhal/) > [Twinking tears in a sea of black. Soft light in a world of darkness. Tiny wishes in a place of dreams. Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“...Yes, now the roads themselves are shattered As though they had fallen from a height, and the sky Is cracked like varnish. Hard to believe, Our family tree Seems to be making its mark everywhere. I carry my head high On a pike that shall be nameless. Even so, we had to give up honor entirely, But I do what I can. I am patient With the woes of the cupboards, and God knows― I keep the good word close to hand like a ticket. I feed the wounded lights in their cages. I wake up at night on the penultimate stroke, and with My eyes still shut I remember to turn the thorn In the breast of the bird of darkness. 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