From the beginning it belonged to distance
as the blue color of the mountain does
and though it existed on a map somewhere
and might be discovered by chance
and even be recognized perhaps
at an odd moment
it survived beyond
what could be known at the time
in its archaic
untaught language
that brings the bees to the rosemary
many years after it had been found
its true name remained
on the other side of knowledge
yet it was still there
like a season that has changed
but appears in the light
in the unspoken morning
W.S. Merwin (The Shadow of Sirius: Copper Canyon Press)
