Not a Gate, Not a Bell
The Tongue Says Loneliness
by Jane Hirshfield
The tongue says loneliness, anger, grief,
but does not feel them.
As Monday cannot feel Tuesday,
nor Thursday
reach back to Wednesday
as a mother reaches out for her found child.
As this life is not a gate, but the horse plunging
through it.
Not a bell,
but the sound of the bell in the bell-shape,
lashing full strength with the first blow from
inside the iron.