It is, of course, we who house poems as much as their words, and we ourselves must be the locus of poetry's depth of newness. Still, the permeability seems to travel both ways: a changed self will find new meanings in a good poem, but a good poem also changes the shape of the self. - Jane Hirshfield
TreeIt is foolishto let a young redwoodgrow 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. - Jane Hirshfield
Perimeter is not meaning, but it changes meaning,/as wit increases distance, and compassion erodes it. - Jane Hirshfield
The Cloudy VasePast time, I threw the flowers out,washed out the cloudy vase.How easily the old clearnessleapt, like a practiced tiger, back inside it. - Jane Hirshfield
Poetry's work is the clarification and magnification of being. - Jane Hirshfield