A Poem for a Thursday #257

William Stafford didn’t publish is first major collection of poetry until he was 48 years old. That collection won the 1963 National Book Award for Poetry. Stafford went on to publish 57 volumes of poetry. His poems have a gentle, conversational style with a clear connection to nature.

Mostly you look back and say, "Well, OK. Things might have 
been different, sure, and it's too bad, but look—
things happen like that, and you did what you could." 
You go back and pick up the pieces. There's tomorrow.
There's that long bend in the river on the way
home. Fluffy burst of milkweed are floating
through shafts of sunlight or disappearing where
trees reach out from their deep dark roots.

Maybe people have to go in and out of shadows
till they learn that floating, that immensity
waiting to receive whatever arrives with trust.
Maybe somebody has to explore what happens
when one of us wanders over near the edge
and falls for awhile. Maybe it was your turn.

Afterwards
William Stafford