Once in the 40’s
William Stafford
1914 –1993
We were alone one night on a longroad in Montana. This was in winter, a bignight, far to the stars. We had hitched,my wife and I, and left our ride ata crossing to go on. Tired and cold—butbrave—we trudged along. This, we said,was our life, watched over, allowed to gowhere we wanted. We said we’d come back some timewhen we got rich. We’d leave the others and finda night like this, whatever we had to give,and no matter how far, to be so happy again.