A Carbon-based Life Form

A person tired with happiness grows sober.

Another, worn through
by sadness, stumbles into a kind of joy.

It is like a dog alone in a house, barking to hear its own kind—

Nothing needs to be added. Yet we do.

Jane Hirshfield  copyright 2001
from Barrow Street
and Given Sugar, Given Salt (HarperCollins 2001)

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