For My Young Friends Who Are Afraid
William Stafford

There is a country to cross you will
find in the corner of your eye, in
the quick slip of your foot–air far
down, a snap that might have caught.
And maybe for you, for me, a high, passing
voice that finds its way by being
afraid. That country is there, for us,
carried as it is crossed. What you fear
will not go away: it will take you into
yourself and bless you and keep you.
That’s the world, and we all live there.

from William Stafford. The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems by William Stafford. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1998. page 183.

Seemed appropriate given that today is Halloween and only four more days until Nov. 4!  We are all afraid and giddy at the thought of an Obama presidency… isn’t that what Halloween was like as a child?  Fear of the darkness but utter delight at what is to come.