The following poem is written by Thomas R. Smith. This is from the collection “Waking Before Dawn”, published in 2007 by Red Dragonfly Press.

Dawn Stanzas
For William Stafford

Daybreak, how will you accomplish
yourself now without his dawn
stanzas leaning quietly toward
the light, each word a sun
rising out of a lost canyon?

A face in the mist, a principled
refusal, a shadow on the wall –
these are the cards he played,
and when the game was over
walked away from his winnings.

No one knows when the hand
inside will squeeze shut,
or when that moment we
rehearse in the small deaths
of poems will arrive.

Morning after his forever
came, where will you find
another collaborator
as diligent to name and ease
the darkness and silence?