William Stafford … “No person anywhere, nothing, just space, the solid earth, gradually a star…”
“I hid my bike and climbed into the breaks above the river. It is all open country, miles of red-brown brush and grass. A few cottonwoods and willows lined the river far down – maybe a mile – from me. On that still, serene day I stayed and watched. How slow and majestic the day was, and the sunset. No person anywhere, nothing, just space, the solid earth, gradually a star, the stars. Quail sounds, a coyote yapping.
In the middle of the night I woke and saw a long, lighted passenger train slowly pulling across the far horizon. No sound. Steady stars. The morning was dim, sure, an imperceptible brightening of the sky with yellow, gray, orange, and then the powerful sun. That encounter with the size and serenity of the earth and its neighbors in the sky has never left me. The earth was my home; I would never feel lost while it held me.” – William Stafford, You Must Revise Your Life … (after camping as a teenager, by himself, near the Cimarron River, in Kansas)
sam of the 10,000 things 
Loved that quote and image. Beautiful!
Glad you like the passage, Berit. There are four writing books by Stafford that I read at least once a year: Writing the Australia Crawl, You Must Revise Your Life, Crossing Unmarked Snow, and The Answers Are Inside the Mountains. They remain a steady influence on my work.
cool, thank you