Monday, July 21, 2008

A Valley Like This.

A poem by William Stafford sits atop Washington Pass in the Cascades. I read this beautiful poem this weekend just after I had gazed into the gorgeous valley below and peeked at the craggy spires above this pass for this first time. I almost cried after reading it:

A Valley Like This

Sometimes you look at an empty valley like this,
and suddenly the air is filled with snow.
That is the way the whole world happened
-there was nothing, and then...

But maybe sometimes you will look out and even
the mountains are gone, the world become nothing
again. What can a person do to help
bring back the world?

We have to watch and then look at each other.
Together we hold it close and carefully
save it, like a bubble that can disappear
if we don't watch out.

Please think about this as you go on. Breathe on the world.
Hold out your hands to it. When mornings and evenings
roll along watch how they open and close, how they
invite you to the long party your life is.

--William Stafford

I will post a picture here, eventually, of the pass so you can see for yourself.

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