W. S. Merwin: "To Myself"

Even when I forget you
I go on looking for you
I believe I would know you
I keep remembering you
sometimes long ago but then
other times I am sure you
were here a moment before
and the air is still alive
around where you were and I
think then I can recognize
you who are always the same
who pretend to be time but
you are not time and who speak
in the words but you are not
what they say you who are not
lost when I do not find you

"To Myself" by W. S. Merwin. Text as published in Present Company (Copper Canyon Press, 2007).

Art credit: Image from a presentation by The Stories from the Ground, a collective of artists specializing in "micro-theatre" shadow puppetry performances.