An Extra Day . . .
An Extra Evening Walk Around the Block |
February 29
An extra day—
Like the painting’s fifth cow,
who looks out directly,
straight toward you,
from inside her black and white spots.
An extra day—
Accidental, surely:
the made calendar stumbling over the real
as a drunk trips over a threshold
too low to see.
An extra day—
With a second cup of black coffee.
A friendly but businesslike phone call.
A mailed-back package.
Some extra work, but not too much—
just one day’s worth, exactly.
An extra day—
Not unlike the space
between a door and its frame
when one room is lit and another is not,
and one changes into the other
as a woman exchanges a scarf.
An extra day—
Extraordinarily like any other.
And still
there is some generosity to it,
like a letter re-readable after its writer has died. (2012)
Jane Hirshfield (born 1953)
American poet and translator
Also perfect for the Autumnal Equinox
Ten Lords a Leap - Yearing |
Quotidian:
2020 ~ 2016 ~ 2012
Fortnightly:
2012 ~ 2016 ~ 2020
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