I am as far as the deepest sky between clouds

and you are as far as the deepest root and wound, 

and I am as far as a train at evening, 

as far as a whistle you can't hear or remember. 

You are as far as an unimagined animal 

who, frightened by everything, never appears. 

I am as far as cicadas and locusts

and you are as far as the cleanest arrow 

that has sewn the wind to the light on 

the birch trees. I am as far as the sleep of rivers 

that stains the deepest sky between clouds, 

you are as far as invention, and I am as far as memory.



You are as far as a red-marbled stream 

where children cut their feet on the stones 

and cry out. And I am as far as their happy 

mothers, bleaching new linen on the grass 

and singing, "You are as far as another life, 

as far as another life are you."

And I am as far as an infinite alphabet 

made from yellow stars and ice, 

and you are as far as the nails of the dead man, 

as far as a sailor can see at midnight 

when he's drunk and the moon is an empty cup, 

and I am as far as invention and you are as far as memory.



I am as far as the corners of a room where no one 

has ever spoken, as far as the four lost corners 

of the earth. And you are as far as the voices 

of the dumb, as the broken limbs of saints 

and soldiers, as the scarlet wing of the suicidal 

blackbird, I am farther and farther away from you. 

And you are as far as a horse without a rider 

can run in six years, two months and five days.

I am as far as that rider, who rubs his eyes with

his blistered hands, who watches a ghost don his

jacket and boots and now stands naked in the road.

As far as the space between word and word, 

as the heavy sleep of the perfectly loved 

and the sirens of wars no one living can remember, 

as far as this room, where no words have been spoken, 

you are as far as invention, and I am as far as memory.

From Yellow Stars and Ice by Susan Stewart, published by Princeton University Press. Copyright © 1981 by Susan Stewart. All rights reserved.

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