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In Response to a Question

The earth says have a place, be what that place

requires; hear the sound the birds imply

and see as deep as ridges go behind

each other. (Some people call their scenery flat,

their only picture framed by what they know:

I think around them rise a riches and a loss

too equal for their chart – but absolutely tall.)

The earth says every summer have a ranch

that's minimum: one tree, one well, a landscape

that proclaims a universe – sermon

of the hills, hallelujah mountain,

highway guided by the way the world is tilted,

reduplication of mirage, flat evening:

a kind of ritual for the wavering.

The earth says where you live wear the kind

of color that your life is (gray shirt for me)

and by listening with the same bowed head that sings

draw all songs into one song, join

the sparrow on the lawn, and row that easy

way, the rage without met by the wings

within that guide you anywhere the wind blows.

Listening, I think that's what the earth says.

William Stafford