CASPER
THE FRIENDLY GHOST
Here is yet one
more life that we see only from outside
from the outside
not in itself but later
in signs of its going
a reminder
in the spring daylight
it happened when we were not noticing
and so close to us
that we might not have been here
disregarded as we were
see where we have walked
the earth has risen again
out of its darkness
where it has been recognized
without being seen
known by touch
of the blind velvet fingers
the wise nails
descendants of roots and water
we have seen them
only in death and in pictures
opened from darkness afterward
but here the earth
has been touched and raised
eye has not seen it come
ear has not heard
the famous fur
the moment that finds its way
in the dark without us
more life that we see only from outside
from the outside
not in itself but later
in signs of its going
a reminder
in the spring daylight
it happened when we were not noticing
and so close to us
that we might not have been here
disregarded as we were
see where we have walked
the earth has risen again
out of its darkness
where it has been recognized
without being seen
known by touch
of the blind velvet fingers
the wise nails
descendants of roots and water
we have seen them
only in death and in pictures
opened from darkness afterward
but here the earth
has been touched and raised
eye has not seen it come
ear has not heard
the famous fur
the moment that finds its way
in the dark without us