.
.
Everything else must have changed
must be different
by the time you appear
more than ever the same
.
taking me by surprise
in my difference
my age
long after I had come
to the end
of believing in you
to the end of hope
.
which was not even
the first of the changes
.
when I imagined
that I was forgetting you
you did not even need memory
to remain there
letting the years vanish
the miles depart
.
nothing surprising in that
.
even longing
does not need memory
to know what to reach for
.
and nothing surprises you
who were always there
wherever it was
.
beyond belief
.
~ W.S. Merwin
from Present Company
.