Sacred Heart #33

Even the long beloved
was once
an unrecognized stranger.

Just so,
the chipped lip
of a blue glazed cup,
blown field of a yellow curtain
might also
flooding and falling
ruin your heart.

A table painted with roses.
And empty clothesline.

Each time
the found world surprises –
that is its nature.

And then
what is said by all lovers:
“What fools we were, not to have seen.”

Jane Hirshfield (1953 ) is an American poet, essayist, and translator. Her work has been translated into over fifteen languages.

What makes your heart stop for an instant? Is the the vastness of a Grand Canyon, the sight of a newborn baby, the chipped blue tea cup your mother used every day? Wonder is all around us – everywhere – if only we had the eyes to see.

One of the lesson I learned as an artist was you didn’t learn to ‘do’ art or learn complicated techniques. In learning to be an artist, you learn to see – to stop the commentary of the thinking mind and open to the ‘other.’  If you can be receptive to what is, at this instant, you become, for that instant, as one.

Nature is our most intimate and loving teacher, always ready to reveal itself to unblinking eyes.