Poems by Jane Hirshfield

Tree

by Jane Hirshfield

From Canary February/March 2009

Jane lives on the southeast hem of Mount Tamalpais in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the company of several second-growth redwoods. She can often be found doing volunteer mounted patrol beside Redwood Creek, which passes through Muir Woods before meeting the Pacific Ocean at Muir Beach--the southernmost stream in California in which coho salmon can still be found.

from Given Sugar, Given Salt, Harper Collins, 2001

It is foolish
to let a young redwood
grow next to a house.

Even in this
one lifetime
you will have to choose.

That great calm being,
this clutter of soup pots and books -

Already the branch-tips brush at the window.
Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.

© Jane Hirshfield

Tree

by Jane Hirshfield

From Canary Fall 2016

It is foolish
to let a young redwood
grow next to a house.

Even in this
one lifetime,
you will have to choose.

That great calm being,
this clutter of soup pots and books—

Already the first branch-tips brush at the window.
Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.