Painting by Verna Marie Campbell
You Reading This, Be Ready
Starting here,
what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers,
what softened sound from outside
fills the air?
Will you ever bring a better gift
for the world than the breathing
respect than you carry wherever
you go right now?
Are you waiting for time to show
you some better thoughts?
When you turn around, starting here,
lift this new glimpse that you found;
carry into evening all that you want
from this day.
This interval you spent reading
or hearing this,
keep it for life.
What can anyone give you greater
than now, starting here,
right in this room,
when you turn around?
William Stafford
Posted over on William Stafford Broadsides
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