"So Much of the World" by Gregory Djanikian

Green Hillside, 1970 - Eyvind Earle

So much of the world exists

without us

the mountain in its own steepness

the deer sliding

into the trees becoming

a darkness

in the woods' darkness.

So much of an open field

lies somewhere between the grass

and the dragonfly's drive and thrum

the seed and seedling,

the earth within.

But so much of it lies in someone

standing alone at the edge of a field

with a life apart

feeling for a moment

the plover's cry

on the tongue

the curve and plumb

of the apple bough

in limb and bone.

So much of it between

one thing and another,

days of invitation,

then of release and return.

"So Much of the World" by Gregory Djanikian from Dear Gravity.

© Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2014.