Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing that makes water,
and nobody knows what that is.

–D. H. Lawrence



Tuesday, October 5, 2021

finding a teacher







.




In the woods I came on an old friend fishing
and I asked him a question
and he said Wait

fish were rising in the deep stream 
but his line was not stirring 
but I waited 
it was a question about the sun 

about my two eyes 
my ears my mouth 
my heart the earth with its four seasons 
my feet where I was standing 
where I was going 

it slipped through my hands 
as though it were water 
into the river 
it flowed under the trees 
it sank under hulls far away 
and was gone without me 
then where I stood night fell 

I no longer knew what to ask 
I could tell that his line had no hook 
I understood that I was to stay and eat with him 


—W.S. Merwin

No comments:

Post a Comment