The Same Breathing Voyage
“The navigator of day
plots his way by a few daytime stars
which he never sees
except as black calculations on white paper
worked out to the present
and even beyond
on a single plane
while on the same breathing voyage the other navigator steers only
by what he sees
and he names for the visions of day
what he makes out in the dark void over his head
he names for what he has never seen what he will never see
and he never sees
the other“
~ excerpt from, The Helmsman, W.S. Merwin
word made Flesh is seldom
And trembling partook
Nor then perhaps reported
But have I not mistook
Each one of us has tasted
With ecstasies of stealth
The very food debated
To our specific strength –
A word that breathes distinctly
Has not the power to die
Cohesive as the Spirit
It may expire if He –
“Made flesh and dwelt among us”
Could condescension be
Like this consent of Language
This loved Philology
~ Emily Dickinson




