He heard footsteps
across the carpet --
a student carrying
his books to a table.
He thought of footsteps in a forest
when he was a boy,
when news was brought
of the wide wilderness
surrounding his life.
He lay in a little tent
and tried to see in his mind
the making of stars
millions of miles away,
and the way silence
stretches around us
with no bounds.
His small footsteps
to the circulation desk
sounded far off,
like stars stepping
across the universe
above the tiny town
and its small school
and library.
