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
world purpose birth
You were aimed from birth: you will never be alone... The whole wide world pours down.
world reason knows
And the things you know before you hear them; these are you and the reason you are in the world.
world salvation glances
When you allow me to live with you, every glance at the world around you will be a sort of salvation.
land alive world
'Be alive,' the land says, 'listen - this is your time, your world, your pleasure.'
breathing world right-now
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world than the breathing respect that you carry wherever you go right now?
legends way world
So, the world happens twice-- once what we see it as; second it legends itself deep, the way it is.
fear going-away world
...What you fear will not go away; it will take you into yourself and bless you and keep you. That's the world, and we all live there.
world hearing rich
The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying the things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing the things you do not have to hear dulls your hearing. And the things you know before you hear them; these are you and the reason you are in the world.
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.
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.
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.