W. S. Merwin, pt IV: By the Avenue, Union City

The final picture, a postcard that shows the Palisades, with railroad tracks originating from Hoboken. The train went north to Union City and beyond. Above this picture, the view of Merwin Way, that has already been posted, shows the desolate area where once the First Presbyterian Church stood overlooking the Hudson. The area is fenced in now, preventing access to the grey gravel that is brutal and bereft even of trees and wild plants. In the far distance the Hudson can be glimpsed, but it is not the river Merwin describes; it has been cleansed and is now a waterway for pleasure rather than labor. And even Manhattan's face is different. Its sweaty yet great skyline has been degraded by luxury residences, whose scrubbed and gleaming surfaces are indicative of new wealth that is not gained by labor but by tricks and gambling. But thanks to Stieglitz and other great artists of the twentieth century, the vital life that once made Manhattan and the boroughs so rich, exist in all their glory. And Merwin's witness to that life and its impression on the child's imagination contributed importantly to the course of his life.