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.
Jane Hirshfield is the author of nine collections of poetry, includingThe Beauty: Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015), which was long listed for the National Book Award. She served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2012 to 2017. This poem was written in 2014.
REFLECTION:
- As a new year begins, what do you need to see, hear, taste that you have not?
- Do you feel you have done enough to address the local or global issues? Will the next generation say you (we) did nothing?
- What action do you want to take on – whether environmental, social justice, or political issues in the coming year?