A Valley Like This
William Stafford

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 some time 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 it 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 that your life is.

This poem is included in Poetry of Presence II, edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai & Ruby R. Wilson, and published in 2023 by Grayson Books. (It is another lovely anthology of poems, by the way.) You can find biographical information about the poet, William Stafford, and read more of his poems here.

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And, with that, my Advent Calendar of Comfort and Joy comes to a close. I thank you for hanging around and indulging my need to try something different. Generally, I think it’s gone pretty well. I had fun with it — and it served one of its intended purposes: getting me out of my blog-funk. (Although, trust me, I do need a little break now.) I’ll be back for a few days next week to bring you a couple of my annual year year-in-review posts . . . but, after that, I’m going to take a week or so off. Which means I’ll be backing right up against the next Read With Us discussion day on January 9. So please RSVP if you intend to join us for the Zoom call (7:00 pm Eastern time, Tuesday, January 9). There is a link at the top of the sidebar for you to RSVP directly to me by email, or you can just leave a comment here.

Enjoy the rest of December, my friends. 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 that your life is.

Party on, dudes.
XO

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If you’re wondering what this “advent calendar” is all about, you can read my “intro” post here.