Getting it Right

November Poem a Day Challenge: Day 2

The saddest are those not right in their lives

who are acting to make things right for others:
they act only from the self –
and that self will never be right:
no luck, no help, no wisdom.

William Stafford, “The Little Ways that Encourage Good Fortune” (1977)

I couldn’t have written this last night,
not that what I learned today makes the difference,
it’s just that timing is always a part of getting it right.

This morning there was nothing wrong with waking,

even the clouds covering familiar friends did not detract

from the lucky feeling of being awake as the west was breaking.

On the side of the road, a small fox crouched under harsh headlight,

though moving too fast I swear I could see his dark eyes dilating,

when he decided running wasn’t worth the risk, I knew what I would write it.

It’s not that everything was right today, or any day,

but nothing overwhelmed the sense that the direction was clear:

sometimes wisdom is staying quiet, sometimes it’s having something to say.