The Visitant

1 A cloud moved close. The bulk of the wind shifted. A tree swayed over water. A voice said: Stay. Stay by the slip-ooze. Stay. Dearest tree, I said, may I rest here? A ripple made a soft reply. I waited, alert as a dog. The leech clinging to a stone waited; And the crab, the quiet breather. 2 Slow, slow as a fish she came, Slow as a fish coming forward, Swaying in a long wave; Her skirts not touching a leaf, Her white arms reaching towards me. She came without sound, Without brushing the wet stones, In the soft dark of early evening, She came, The wind in her hair, The moon beginning. 3 I woke in the first of morning. Staring at a tree, I felt the pulse of a stone. Where’s she now, I kept saying. Where’s she now, the mountain’s downy girl? But the bright day had no answer. A wind stirred in a web of appleworms; The tree, the close willow, swayed.