A Caution to the Mapmaker
The easy part is marking
where mountains rise through desert,
grass and woodland
until a single peak prevails
but you will never map the thunderhead
gathering around it.
You can measure any journey
taken through a canyon
and away from the roads
without ever knowing
the pace of the heart that powers it.
Lightning draws faster than you can.
Whatever you commit to paper
the rain will wash away
in repeated monsoons.
You record the terrain
while smugglers and the jaguar
find their way by scent
and memory;
they will still be here
after being declared extinct.
--David Chorlton
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