| When William Stafford Died |
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| Well, water goes down the Montana gullies. |
| "I'll just go around this rock and think |
| About it later." That's what you said. |
| When death came, you said, "I'll go there." |
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| There's no sign you'll come back. Sometimes |
| My father sat up in the coffin and was alive again. |
| But I think you were born before my father, |
| And the feet they made in your time were lighter. |
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| One dusk you were gone. Sometimes a fallen tree |
| Holds onto a rock, if the current is strong. |
| I won't say my father did that, but I won't |
| Say he didn't either. I was watching you both. |
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| If all a man does is to watch from the shore, |
| Then he doesn't have to worry about the current. |
| But if affection has put us into the stream, |
| Then we have to agree to where the water goes. |
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| Robert Bly |
