To the Unseeable Animal
……………. My daughter: “I hope there’s an animal
……………………….. somewhere that nobody has ever seen.
……………………….. And I hope nobody ever sees it.”
Being, whose flesh dissolves
at our glance, knower
of the secret sums and measures,
you are always here,
dwelling in the oldest sycamores,
visiting the faithful springs
when they are dark and the foxes
have crept to their edges.
I have come upon pools
in streams, places overgrown
with the woods’ shadow,
where I knew you had rested,
watching the little fish
hang still in the flow;
as I approached they seemed
particles of your clear mind
disappearing among the rocks.
I have walked deep in the woods
in the early morning, sure
that while I slept
your gaze passed over me.
That we do not know you
in your perfection
and our hope. The darkness
keeps us near you.
by Wendell Berry
from Farming -A Handbook
Harvest Books, 1967