The Clearing Poem by Jane Kenyon

The Clearing

Rating: 4.5


The dog and I push through the ring
of dripping junipers
to enter the open space high on the hill
where I let him off the leash.

He vaults, snuffling, between tufts of moss;
twigs snap beneath his weight; he rolls
and rubs his jowls on the aromatic earth;
his pink tongue lolls.

I look for sticks of proper heft
to throw for him, while he sits, prim
and earnest in his love, if it is love.

All night a soaking rain, and now the hill
exhales relief, and the fragrance
of warm earth. . . . The sedges
have grown an inch since yesterday,
and ferns unfurled, and even if they try
the lilacs by the barn can't
keep from opening today.

I longed for spring's thousand tender greens,
and the white-throated sparrow's call
that borders on rudeness. Do you know—
since you went away
all I can do
is wait for you to come back to me.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Smoky Hoss 12 October 2015

of all the wonders of living, the longing for love, in the final analysis, is the greatest...

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Colleen Courtney 29 May 2014

Hmmm...find this poem interesting. Sets us up for something all the way through but then throws us a curve ball in the last stanza. Different.

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