The Naming

We called it the bright water. We called it the noon surface. We called it the thing that answers nothing.

We kept a ledger. We were careful. Entry one: it does not return the wave. Entry two: it does not answer the horn. Entry three: it takes the stone and keeps it.

We named the days it almost spoke. We named the light that came off it. We named the silence after the light.

The names were good names. They were precise. They were ours. They covered the water like a net that held nothing.

We are still writing. The sun is high. The ledger is full. The water does not know it has a name.