Gwendolyn Macewen

The Discovery

do not imagine that the exploration ends,

that she has yielded all her mystery

or that the map you hold

cancels further discovery

I tell you her uncovering takes years

takes centuries, and when you find her naked

look again, admit there is something else you cannot name,

a veil, a coating just above the flesh

which you cannot move by your mere wish

when you see the land naked, look again

(burn your maps, that is not what I mean),

I mean the moment when it seems most plain

is the moment you must begin again

- Gwendolyn MacEwan

The Mirage

This is the desert, as I promised you.

_____There are no landmarks, only

Those you imagine, or those made by rocks

_____that fell from heaven.

Did you ever know where you were going?

_____Am I as invisible to you

As you always were to me, fellow traveller?

_____You are not here for nothing.

There are no easy ways of seeing, riding

_____the waves of invisible seas

In marvelous vessels which are always

_____arriving or departing.

I have come to uncover the famous secrets

_____Of earth and water, air and fire.

I have come to explore and contain them all.