Gardener and Poet William Merwin on a Humorous Moment Between Robert Louis Stevenson and King Kalakaua

September 30, 1927

On this day, American poet WS Merwin, who always went by William, was born.

In 2010, William and his wife, Paula, co-founded the Merwin Conservancy at his home in Haiku, Maui.

While researching William, I came across an interview with him done by Joel Whitney in 2010.

During the interview, Merwin revealed that his mother used to read his poetry, and one of his early favorites was Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

When asked about Stevenson, Merwin recalled that Stevenson had spent a great deal of time in Hawaii and then shared this little story about Stevenson and the King:

[Stevenson] played cards with King Kalakaua...

Kalakaua cheated at cards...

But they obviously got along very well together, Stevenson and Kalakaua.

They played cards one day, and Stevenson said, 'I’ll beat him this time: four aces.'

And Kalakaua said, 'Five kings beats it all.'