THIS EVERYTHING DANCE

I like to live in the sound of water,

in the feel of the 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 this 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