“Ask Me” by William Stafford
Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt; ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.
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.
Parker Palmer responds, “The poet’s words, for some, reminds me of moments when it is clear that the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me. In those moments I may sometimes catch a glimpse of my true life, a life hidden like the river beneath the ice. In the spirit of the poet, let me wonder: What am I meant to do? Who am I meant to be?” (Let Your Life Speak, 2)
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