by Nathaniel Tarn1

Sitting, facing the sun, eyes closed. I can hear the

sun. I can hear the bird life all around for miles.

It flies through us and around us, it takes up all

space, as if we were not there, as if we had never

interrupted this place. The birds move diorami-

cally through our heads, from ear to ear. What

are they doing, singing in this luminous2 fall. It is

marvelous to be so alone, the two of us, in this

garden desert. Forgotten, but remembering

ourselves as no one will ever remember us. The

space between the trees, the bare ground-sand

between them, you can see the land's skin which

is so much home. We cannot buy or sell this

marvelous day. I can hear the sun and, within

the sun, the wind which comes out of the world's

lungs from immeasurable depth; we catch only

a distant echo3. Beyond the birds there are per-

sons carrying their names like great weights.

Just think: carrying X your whole life, or Y, or Z.

Carrying all that A and B and C around with you,

having to be A all the time, B, or C. Here you can

be the sun, the pine, the bird. You can be the

breathing. I can tell you, I think this may be

Eden. I think it is.