“Every morning is new as the last one, uncreased as the not quite imaginable first.” FirstsLastsMorningEvery Morning Author:Jane Hirshfield
“The heft of a life in the hands grows both lighter and weightier. Over time, my life has become more saturated with its shape and made-ness, while my poems have become more and more free. The first word of every poem might be "Yes." The next words: "And then."” FirstsMadeHandsMightNextGrowsShapesLightersSaturated Author:Jane Hirshfield
“The first poem in The Beauty holds a woman in Portugal in a wheelchair singing, with great power, a fado. I have never seen this or heard of it, the image simply arrived. But surely such a thing has happened. And it matters to me that it has, or could.” FirstsMatterHappenedHeardSingingGreat PowerPortugalWheelchairs Author:Jane Hirshfield
“In order to gain anything, you must first lose everything” FirstsOrderLosesGains Author:Jane Hirshfield
“I thought I would love you forever—and, a little, I may, in the way I still move toward a crate, knees bent, or reach for a man: as one might stretch for the three or four fruit that lie in the sun at the top of the tree; too ripe for any moment but this, they open their skin at first touch, yielding sweetness, sweetness and heat, and in me, each time since, the answering yes.” MenWayFirstsMayLittlesStillsMomentsMightMovingLyingThreeSunForeverFourTreeLove YouSkinsFruitKneesHeatBentSweetnessRipeLove You Forever Author:Jane Hirshfield
“Tree 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.” FirstsBookYoungNextHouseGrowsTreeWindowLifetimeCalmFoolishBranchesPotBrushesSoupClutterImmensityRedwoods Author:Jane Hirshfield
