A poem by William Stafford (1914-1993) for all of us, young and old, who are full of fear right now for so many shared and different reasons.
“For My Young Friends Who Are Afraid”
There is a country to cross you will
find in the corner of your eye, in
the quick slip of your foot—air far
down, a snap that might have caught.
And maybe for you, for me, a high, passing
voice that finds its way by being
afraid. That country is there, for us,
carried as it is crossed. What you fear
will not go away: it will take you into
yourself and bless you and keep you.
That’s the world, and we all live there.
live in the layers 