William Stafford
William Stafford
Prolific American poet and 1970 U.S. Poet Laureate who won the National Book Award for Traveling Through the Dark. His numerous other works include In the Clock of Reason, Brother Wind, Passwords, and Wyoming Circuit.
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth17 January 1914
CountryUnited States of America
ask hate ice love mistakes river slow strongest time tried
Some time when the river is ice ask memistakes I have made. Ask me whetherwhat I have done is my life. Othershave come in their slow way intomy thought, and some have tried to helpor to hurt: ask me what differencetheir strongest love or hate has made.
ask difference hate help ice love mistakes others river slow strongest time tried whether
Some time when the river is ice ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life. Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt: ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made.
current exactly hold miles river silent stillness turn
You and I can turn and lookat the silent river and wait. We knowthe current is there, hidden; and thereare comings and goings from miles awaythat hold the stillness exactly before us.What the river says, that is what I say.
rivers topics kind
I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.
rivers waiting silence
You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait. We know the current is there, hidden; and there are comings and goings from miles away that hold the stillness exactly before us. What the river says, that is what I say.
Even the upper end of the riverbelieves in the ocean.
caught face gone happy midst pass souls watch
You happy beings, watch every face for thoseyou pass caught in the midst of lifeby some horror, their souls gone dim, cursedor unlucky, exiled under a stone.
caught cursed face gone happy life midst pass souls watch
You happy beings, watch every face for those you pass caught in the midst of life by some horror, their souls gone dim, cursed or unlucky, exiled under a stone.
anyone greater turn
What can anyone give you greater than now,starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?
curve desert elbows might noon particular
At noon in the desert a panting lizardwaited for history, its elbows tense,watching the curve of a particular roadas if something might happen.
curve desert elbows lizard might noon particular road waited watching
At noon in the desert a panting lizard waited for history, its elbows tense, watching the curve of a particular road as if something might happen.
speaks
The world speaks everything to us. It is our only friend.
acting saddest self
The saddest are those not right in their liveswho are acting to make things right for others:they act only from the self --and that self will never be right:no luck, no help, no wisdom.
acting lives saddest self wisdom
The saddest are those not right in their lives who are acting to make things right for others: they act only from the self -- and that self will never be right: no luck, no help, no wisdom.