Thursday, November 01, 2007

Horizon

You can use the brush of a Japanese monk
or a pencil stub from a race track.


As long as you draw the line a third
the way up from the bottom of the page
the effect is the same: the world
suddenly
divided into its elemental realms.









A moment ago there was only a piece of paper.
Now there is earth and sky, sky and sea.

You were sitting alone in a small room.
Now you are walking into the heat of a vast desert
or standing on the ledge of a winter beach
watching the light on the water, light in the air.

Billy Collins