To A Traveling Friend
W.S. Merwin

a harsh cry or partridge
echoes along the valley
through a misty rain
two months after you left
you would recognize it
though you no longer noticed the sound
except in your dreams

once again i do not know
where you may be
how to send you anything
whether you need it or not




you may be far away by now
yet i keep hearing your footsteps
all day in the house
in another room
this is like one of those letters
written on a mountain in China
over a thousand years ago

by someone staring
at miles of white clouds
after a friends departure
there were so many of those
unsigned and never sent
as far as we know

thanks dev. much love.