Be Ready
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 that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show your 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
This is beautiful. I was just writing in my journal something to this affect. The little things, the subtle nuances, are so important, so amazingly significant and poignant. Isn’t it ironic? Thank you for this tonight.
You are so right about the little things being so important. I have always found it ironic that my memories of childhood don’t focus on the big things–like trips or such–but on small moments that stand out in sharp clarity of sight and sound…my dad reading the newspaper, or my mom pulling out a loaf of bread from the oven, sitting by my grandfather on the couch while he watched football just to be close to him…small moments, but incredibly poignant.