Get Your Premium Membership

Returned To Say

 When I face north a lost Cree
on some new shore puts a moccasin down,
rock in the light and noon for seeing,
he in a hurry and I beside him

It will be a long trip; he will be a new chief;
we have drunk new water from an unnamed stream;
under little dark trees he is to find a path
we both must travel because we have met.

Henceforth we gesture even by waiting;
there is a grain of sand on his knifeblade
so small he blows it and while his breathing
darkens the steel his become set

And start a new vision: the rest of his life.
We will mean what he does. Back of this page
the path turns north. We are looking for a sign.
Our moccasins do not mark the ground.

Poem by William Stafford
Biography | Poems | Best Poems | Short Poems | Quotes | Email Poem - Returned To SayEmail Poem | Create an image from this poem

Poems are below...



Summaries, Analysis, and Information on "Returned To Say"

Sorry, no articles found.

More Information

More Poems by William Stafford


Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry