New absence

July 27, 1981

Here, in the mountains, I push back your new absence That quite overwhelms The lowlands exposure. Light has a way here Of dripping like water from larches Where cobwebs on mosses And clover-leaves shimmer in dew; Even the tree trunks Surprise with patches of whiteness Spilling their summer In forests of dark-scented roots, And with the summit's Exhaustion the sun's raw directness Troubles and lightens The distance -- the valley's Cold law -- there where your shadow Has doubled its living and song.