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Meeting the Light Completely by Jane Hirshfield

By T.

26 December 2012

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Meeting the Light Completely
Jane Hirshfield

Even the long-beloved
was once
an unrecognized stranger.

Just so,
the chipped lip
of a blue-glazed cup,
blown field
of a yellow curtain,
might also,
flooding and falling,
ruin your heart.

A table painted with roses.
An empty clothesline.

Each time,
the found world surprises—
that is its nature.

And then
what is said by all lovers:
“What fools we were, not to have seen.”

MARGINALIA

1.
I am leaving in awhile. I know it’s the right thing to do. I need to get away from the city, from all of this.

2.
When I planned this trip, it was just out of a whim. And now, six months later, it’s something I badly need.

3.
Here now, T., is something to think about as you go on the road: maybe you can still protect yourself. Maybe all is not lost as you bitterly believed these past few weeks.

4.
Maybe somewhere in your deepest self there is still that hand cupped around your heart.

ABOUT JANE HIRSHFIELD

Jane Hirshfield was born in New York City on February 24, 1953. A poet, translator, essayist, and editor. Hirshfield’s books of poetry include The Asking: New & Selected Poems (Alfred A. Knopf); Ledger (Alfred A. Knopf); The Beauty: Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015) and Given Sugar, Given Salt (HarperCollins, 2001). Hirshfield is also the author of Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (Alfred A. Knopf); Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry (HarperCollins); and an e-book… (more)