<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Just This<div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">When I think of the patience I have had</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">back in the dark before I remember</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">or knew it was night until the light came</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">all at once at the speed it was born to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">with all the time in the world to fly through</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">not concerned about ever arriving</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">and then the gathering of the first stars</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">unhurried in their flowering spaces</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">and far into the story the planets</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">cooling slowly and the ages of rain</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">then the seas starting to bear memory</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">the gaze of the first cell at its waking</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">how did this haste begin this little time</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">at any time this reading by lightning</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; ">scarcely a word this nothing this heaven</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; "></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- W.S. Merwin</span></div></body></html>