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There’s a Mystery There

Jonathan Cott

“We say ‘far away’; the Zulu people have a word for that which means ‘There where someone cries out: O mother, I am lost.’”

—Martin Buber, I and Thou


the place where we once had a picnic
is now underwater

that one thick branch
of the shade tree
is now hovering
over the rippling surface

its trunk submerged—
holding its breath
for us

Last updated: August 8, 2023