William Stafford

William Stafford (1914-1993) one of America's most prolific poets, Stafford was, according to James Dickey in his book Babel to Byzantium, "a real poet, a born poet." "In all his volumes Stafford makes clear his allegiances to all those elements of existence capable of teaching him something about how to live," Steve Garrison notes. 

Time for Serenity, Anyone?

I like to live in the sound of water,

in the feel of mountain air. A sharp

reminder hits me: this world still is alive;

it stretches out there shivering toward its own

creation, and I’m part of it. Even my breathing

enters into the elaborate give-and-take,

this bowing to sun and moon, day or night,

winter, summer, storm, still — this tranquil

chaos that seems to be going somewhere.

This wilderness with a great peacefulness in it.

This motionless turmoil, this everything dance.

— William Stafford