ALONG COMES MARY

Thank you to those who took the time to comment on my piece last week, Loose Thread! This week, I do the safe route (LOL) & share with you another favorite poem of mine: A Ritual to Read to One Another, by William Stafford. I first came across his book, The Darkness Around Us is Deep, at my favorite hang out during my teen years in Solvang; the local book & coffee shop. It was April & Poetry Month, no less. The book continues to be one I read often & I hope you enjoy! xo

A Ritual to Read to One Another, by William Stafford

If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider–
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give–yes or no, or maybe–
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.