Noah’s Raven

By W.S. Merwin

Why should I have returned?
My knowledge would not fit into theirs.
I found untouched the desert of the unknown.
Big enough for my feet. It is my home.
It is always beyond them. The future
Splits the present with the echo of my voice.
Hoarse with fulfillment, I never made promises.

W.S. Merwin, “Noah’s Raven” from The Essential W.S Merwin, edited by Michael Wiegers. Copyright © 2017by W.S. Merwin. Used by permission of Copper Canyon Press. See coppercanyonpress.org