By Edward Hirsch

Green Night
(Summer, 1982)

We walked down the path to breakfast.
The morning swung open like an iron gate.

We sat in Adirondack chairs and argued
for hours about the self—it wasn’t personal—

and the nature of nature, the broken
Word, the verse of God in fragments.

We trotted back and forth to readings.
The trees were the greenest I had ever seen.

We cut bread from a large brown loaf
at a long wooden table in the mountains.

A farmer hayed the meadows
and the afternoon flared around us.

Pass the smoky flask. Pass the cigarettes:
twenty smoldering friends in a package.

We swam in the muddy pond at dusk.
The sky was a purple I had never seen.

Someone was always hungover,
scheming with rhymes, hanging out.

Nothing could quench our thirst for each other.
At the bonfire, we flamed with words.

The houses were named after trees.
I slept with someone at the top of a maple.

It was a green night to be a poet in those days.
We didn’t care if the country didn’t care about us.

This elusive "it"

pronoun, nominative it, possessive its or (Obsolete or Dialect) it, objective it; plural nominative they, possessive their or theirs, objective them; noun
4.(used to represent a concept or abstract idea understood or previously stated): It all started with Adam and Eve. He has been taught to believe it all his life.
9.(used in referring to a source not specifically named or described): It is said that love is blind.

Oceans overflow with it
skies beam in extremity of it
souls gravitate towards it

Rays extend my heart
each to its own direction
and length

This sensation of thankless joy
overwhelms my desires-

To bottle this feeling would leave me in
complete ecstasy

With glee or simple acceptance
of being-
the illumination occurs,
replenishing the drought all endures
during loss of love.

The deplorable crime:
Not all ever taste a drop.

Naming of Travels

To-day we have naming of travels. Yesterday,
we had shopping. And tomorrow morning,
we shall have what to do after booking a flight. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of travels. Rio de Janeiro
captivates like coral in all the neighboring beaches,
And to-day we have naming of travels.

This is the North American continent. And this
is the South American continent, whose use you will see,
when you are given your map. And this is a credit card
which in your case you have not got. The airplanes
hold in their luggage, fully packed,
Which in our case we have not got.

This is Antarctica, which is always avoided
during a blizzard. And please do not let me
see anyone using the shipping boats to get there. You can do it quite easy
if you have a warm cap on your head. The Eskimos
Are brawny and adaptive, never letting anyone see
Any of them catching their dinner.

And this you can see is Europe. The purpose of this
is to visit the historical sites, you see. We can sight see
quickly or slowly: we call this
being a tourist.And quickly or slowly
the Americans are assaulting and fumbling the Bobbies
They call it being a tourist.

They call it being a tourist: it is perfectly easy
If you have a warm cap on your head: like the traveler's checks,
and the plane ticket, and the cultural food, and the double-decker bus
which in our case we have not got, and the Eskimos
silent and adaptive in all of the journey and the
Americans going quickly and slowly
For to-day we have naming of travels.