Why I Am Happy

(The Angler, woodcut block by Walter
J. Phillips, 1884-1962, Canadian artist)

The memories of summer stay with us. The poet does not go into detail, but we know exactly what he is talking about.

WHY I AM HAPPY

Now has come, an easy time. I let it
roll. There is a lake somewhere
so blue and far nobody owns it.
A wind comes by and a willow listens
gracefully.

I hear all this, every summer. I laugh
and cry for every turn of the world,
its terribly cold, innocent spin.
That lake stays blue and free; it goes
on and on.

~ William Stafford (1914-1993), American poet