"Northern Lights"

 Paul Auster "Northern Lights"

These are the words
that do not survive the world. And to speak them
is to vanish

into the world. Unapproachable
light
that heaves above the earth, kindling
the brief miracle

of the open eye— 

and the day that spreads
like a fire of leaves
through the first chill wind
of October

consuming the world

in the plain speech
of desire.