You Have to Live a Good Long While
You have to live a good long while before
the wind will reveal her wild faint secrets,
long enough to come to that fork in the road –
sell all that you’ve gained or go away grieved.
You may be hungry for knowledge before
that point but you’re not starving for peace,
the masculinity of ponds, the femininity of stone,
the wisdom of quietness, if not silence.
You have to live a good long while before
you run out of free grace. Then you must earn it.