The Palm at the End of the Mind

There is a palm at the end of the mind, That does not move, it is a palm, A palm that, to the feeling, is not felt. A palm that opens like a hand Opening and closing, closing.

— The palm at the end of the mind, That comes after the end of thought, The palm that is not a palm but a place, Where the air ends and the waters begin.

Leaves on the tree are not the shadow, It is the hand without the palm, the hand, Not the thing itself but the image of the image. The palm at the end of the mind.

It is not the palm of thought, Nor the palm of the thing, nor the hand, But all that is behind the palm, the thing, the thought, Opening at a distance that is here.

— Wallace Stevens, “The Palm at the End of the Mind”

• Wallace Stevens