TO GARY SNYDER

After we saw the wild ducks

and walked away, drawing out

the quiet that had held us,

in wonder of them and of ourselves,

Den said, “I wish Mr. Snyder

had been here.” And I said, “Yes.”

But it cannot be often as it was

when we heard geese in the air

and ran out of the house to see them

wavering in long lines, high,

southward, out of sight.

By division we speak, out of wonder.