As we near the Winter Solstice . . . I want to share one of my favorite winter poems. I know I’ve shared it here before – at least once and maybe even more than that – but it’s a good one and can bear a re-read every so often.

Enjoy.

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.

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.

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 lovely anthology of poems, by the way.) You can find biographical information about the poet, William Stafford, and read more of his poems here.

=========

And you can find A Gathering of Poetry every month . . . on the third Thursday.
Share some.
Read some.
Gather up some poetry!

(Bonny hosts a special link-up for A Gathering of Poetry. Be sure to check it out!)