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 about the flesh
which you cannot remove 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 when you must begin again.


by Gwendolyn MacEwen