A Ritual to Read to Each Other

If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider–
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give–yes or no, or maybe–
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

~William Stafford

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Our relationships depend upon such things as are found in this poem. The knowing, and the wanting to know the other person. The vigilance to be aware and knowing of those small betrayals that defend us from each other, and if left unknown, may break us. How important it is to be awake, if… awake we are. To maintain the heart and life of the relationship by being true to ourselves, in the context of being true to the relationship.
There must be better commentary on this poem and its depths. Perhaps to leave it just stand on its own should be sufficient. And it is. I wanted to add my amen to the thoughts told here as a way to assimilate them.