Let Them Not Say by Jane Hirshfield

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend January 20, 2017   Let Them Not Say   Jane Hirshfield

Let them not say:   we did not see it. We saw.   Let them not say:   we did not hear it. We heard.   Let them not say:     they did not taste it. We ate, we trembled.   Let them not say:   it was not spoken, not written. We spoke, we witnessed with voices and hands.   Let them not say:     they did nothing. We did not-enough.   Let them say, as they must say something:    A kerosene beauty. It burned.   Let them say we warmed ourselves by it, read by its light, praised, and it burned.            Copyright © 2017 Jane Hirshfield. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "This poem was written well before today's Presidential Inauguration and without this event in mind. But it seems a day worth remembering the fate of our shared planet and all its beings, human and beyond." —Jane Hirshfield   Jane Hirshfield's most recent poetry collection is The Beauty (Knopf, 2015). She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.   Photo credit: Curt Richter Poetry by Hirshfield   The Beauty (Knopf, 2015) "An Arbor" by Linda Gregerson "Imaginary Waterfall" by C. D. Wright "Forecast" by Camille Rankine Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038