Poem - “What Gets Away”
Little things hide. Sometimes they
scuttle away like dry leaves in a sudden
wind. Tidepools are full of these
panicky creatures, and rock slides
have jittery populations hidden from the world
and even from each other.
Herodotus tells about the shyest
animal there is. It’s the one even
Alexander the Great and his whole
conquering army had never seen, and people
– no matter how hard they try –
will never see.
William Stafford, “What Gets Away” from Even in Quiet Places. Copyright © 1996 by The Estate of William Stafford. Reprinted with permission of The Permissions Company, Inc. on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN, graywolfpress.org.