A mill beside a tawny stream
Where maple scraps complete a dream;
The vat receives the pulped refrain
And spreads a sheet from sifted grain
Fibers cross like humble hands
They hold a field for future lands;
An empty page becomes a vow
To give the next arriving now
Ink travels through the autumn air
A raven’s quill a writer’s care;
The letters grow like evening wheat
From soil inside a human beat
I stack the pages smooth and warm
A harvest made from patient form;
The papermaker folds the year—
Blankness that makes meaning clear