To the Air

Just when I needed you

there you were

I cannot say

how long you had been

present all at once

color of the day

as it comes to be seen

color of before

face of forgetting

color of heaven

out of sight within

myself leaving me

all the time only

to return without

question never

could I live without you

never have you

belonged to me

never do I want

you not to be with me

you who have been

the breath of everyone

and of each word spoken

without needing to know

the meaning of any of them

or who was speaking

when you are the wind

where do you start from

when you are still

where do you go

you who became

all the names I have known

and the lives in which

they came and went

invisible friend

go on telling me

again again

--W.S. Merwin