Once in the 40’s
We were alone one night on a long road in Montana. This was in winter, a big night, far to the stars. We had hitched, my wife and I, and left our ride at a crossing to go on. Tired and cold—but brave—we trudged along. This, we said, was our life, watched over, allowed to go where we wanted. We said we’d come back some time when we got rich. We’d leave the others and find a night like this, whatever we had to give, and no matter how far, to be so happy again.
Credit
From The Way It Is by William Stafford. Copyright © 1982, 1998 by the Estate of William Stafford. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, St. Paul, Minnesota. All rights reserved.
Author
William Stafford
Born in 1914, William Stafford's first major collection of poems, Traveling Through the Dark, was published when he was forty-eight years old and won the National Book Award in 1963. He went on to publish more than sixty-five volumes of poetry and prose. In 1970, he was the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (a position currently known as the Poet Laureate).
Date Published
01/01/1982