Every Morning All Over Again

Only the world guides me.
Weather pushes, or when it entices
I follow. Some kind of magnetism
Turns me when I am walking
In the woods with no intentions.

There are leadings without any
Reason, but they attract;
If I find there is nothing to gain
From them, I still follow—their power
Is the power of the surrounding world.

But things that promise, or those
That will serve my purposes—
they interfere with the pure wind
From nowhere that sustains a kite,
Or a gull, or a free spirit.

So, afloat again every morning,
I find the current: all the best
Rivers have secret channels that
You have to find by whispering
Like this, and then hear them and follow.

— William Stafford