.
Once I thought I could find
where it began
but that never happened
though I went looking for it
time and again
cutting my way past
empty pools and dry waterfalls
where my dog ran straight up the stone
like an unmoored flame
.
it seemed that the beginning
could not be far then as I went on through the trees
over the rocks toward the mountain
until I came out in the open
and saw no sign of it
.
where the roaring torrent
raced at one time
to carve farther down
those high walls in the stone
for the silence that I hear now
day and night on its way to the sea
.
~ W.S. Merwin
from The Shadow of Sirius
photo by Ansel Adams
from The Shadow of Sirius
photo by Ansel Adams
.
