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# Chimes at Midnight
- URL: https://www.merionwest.com/chimes-at-midnight/
- Published: 2026-07-16T22:55:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-17T20:32:07.000Z
- Description: W. D. Ehrhart
- Author: MW Editors
- Tags: Poetry, Arts

> This must happen to anyone who lives  
> a long time, looking back across the years  
> and decades to the days when we were young  
> and the world stretched out before us  
> like an endless highway or an ocean  
> we would never reach the other side.

> 

> But now we hear the chimes at midnight  
> as I lie beside you with my mind too full  
> of our mortality, and my heart breaking  
> at the memory of the times I failed you,  
> treated you unkindly, made so many  
> selfish choices that I can’t undo.

> 

> My life’s companion, truest friend,  
> it’s no cliché to say that you deserved  
> far better than you got while I got  
> more than I deserved. You’ll disagree,  
> but that’s because I really did  
> get more than I ever deserved.

> 

> And though I still can’t make myself believe,  
> I think I finally understand why  
> people want to think there really is  
> a heaven. As our lives draw ever closer  
> to their end, I can’t avoid my sadness  
> at the thought of all eternity without you.

### W. D. Ehrhart's most recent books are a 2025 collection of poems, [*Smart Fish Don't Bite*](https://moonstone-arts-center.square.site/product/ehrhart-w-d-smart-fish-don-t-bite/YD2QGAXXBUFHBNEM4K6HS6AF?cs=true&cst=custom&utm%5Fmedium=email&%5Fhsenc=p2ANqtz-%5FW-lL6cwwW8bsQANmJwm3MsSw-S42Z2xGh0k2oeotYQjMZaBNz9DqAOukdKP95CuNaM19QsZuXdCh2rJglFzD6U6sG4g&%5Fhsmi=380810861&utm%5Fcontent=380810861&utm%5Fsource=hs%5Femail) from Moonstone Arts, and [*Getting Shot At: Essays on War, Conflict & Culture Clash*](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476658625?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback&ref=merionwest.com)*,* which was released this year with McFarland & Company, Inc. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wales at Swansea and taught English and history at The Haverford School from 2001 to 2019.