The Gods Are Not Large (Poem In Your Post)

But perhaps
the heart
does not want
to be understood.
Your shadow
falls on its pond
and the small fish
hurry away.
They have
their own lives
which they love.

And if to you
it is anger,
bewilderment,
grief,
to them
it is simply life:
their mouths
open and close,
their gills,
they are fed,
they breathe.

The gods
are not large
outside us.
They are the fish
going on
with their own
concerns.

         - Jane Hirschfield

Thank you, Ms. Hirschfield, for so consistently creating poems that feel easy yet resonate more with each reading.  Zen you is, Ms.

For more about Jane Hirschfield, try The Poetry Foundation's page (scroll to the bottom for three more poems).  For more of her words, images, and ideas, try poets.org's Hirschfield page.

And for a lovely, brief interview with another marvelous poem at the end, try this:




MFB this fair weekend,
L

p.s.  Share a poem elegant in its simplicity?  Post and offer up your link in the comments or paste the whole poem there...