By William Stafford
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it doesn’t disappear. Others can’t see it. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and grow old. Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread.
The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems Paperback – March 1, 1999