Some time when the river is ice ask me

mistakes I have made. Ask me whether

what I have done is my life….

I will listen to what you say.

You and I can turn and look

at the silent river and wait. We know

the current is there, hidden; and there

are comings and goings from miles away

that hold the stillness exactly before us.

What the river says, that is what I say.

William Stafford