"The Slowed Evening Is Carried In Prayer"

Cliffs and rock formations are common in the Inland Empire, especially around rivers and lakes. Traveling home at the end of the my teaching day these natural forms of beauty shelter me from wind and sun. The words of William Stafford were perfect for describing these breathtaking rock walls. I agree with him- "the slowed evening is carried in prayer. "

Vespers

As the living pass, they bow

till they imitate stones.

In the steep mountains then

those millions remind us:

every fist the wind has

loses against those faces.

And at the end of the day

when every rock on the west

claims a fragment of sun,

a last bird comes, wing and

then wing over the valley

and over the valley, and home,

Till unbound by our past we sing

wherever we go, ready or not,

stillness above and below, the slowed

evening carried in prayer toward the end.

You know who you are:

This is for you, my friend.

William Stafford