Dear Readers, when I posted about spring poems a while back, sllgatsby shared this one in the comments. It’s not your normal spring poem, but it has some lines that seem so appropriate for the times that we live in that I wanted to share it more widely. See what you think.

Citizen of Dark Times

by Kim Stafford

Agenda in a time of fear: Be not afraid.

When things go wrong, do right.
Set out by the half-light of the seeker.
For the well-lit problem begins to heal.

Learn tropism toward the difficult.

We have not arrived to explain, but to sing.
Young idealism ripens into an ethical life.
Prune back regret to let faith grow.

When you hit rock bottom, dig farther down.

Grief is the seed of singing, shame the seed of song.
Keep seeing what you are not saying.
Plunder your reticence.

Songbird guards a twig, its only weapon a song.

—from Wild Honey, Tough Salt