THE GREAT COLLECTION seen in weak light riding each other's shoulders till their feet ache or walking stiffly disappearing at times they are lucky meaning the source of someone else's misfortune they improve their handwriting they lie to each other their names are too far away to speak encompassed by their distance our voices have flown to the trees or further making a fainting racket like fading birdcalls collected in the great collection of birdcalls fading off into the distance and we have gone the other way the other distance and here we are slightly or greatly into it with our hurt feet and the weight they must carry but it is all to us where we are and of course we believe what we've told each other and frankly where we were is a distance too great to trouble over or waste time missing