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The Task by Jane Hirshfield (Contemporary) Timeline Original Language English Secular or Eclectic Buddhist Contemporary It is a simple garment, this slipped-on world. We wake into it daily -- open eyes, braid hair -- a robe unfurled in rose-silk flowering, then laid bare. And yes, it is a simple enough task we've taken on, though also vast: from dusk to dawn, from dawn to dusk, to praise, and not be blinded by the praising. To lie like a cat in hot sun, fur fully blazing, and dream the mouse; and to keep too the mouse's patient, waking watch within the deep rooms of the house, where the leaf-flocked sunlight never reaches, but the earth still blooms.     -- from The October Palace: Poems, by Jane Hirshfield Amazon.com   / Photo by Isaac D /	Themes   Awakening   Dawn   Dream   Fire   Garden Recommended Books After: Poems, by Jane Hirshfield Each Happiness Ringed by Lions, by Jane Hirshfield Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poems, by Jane Hirshfield The Lives of the Heart: Poems, by Jane Hirshfield Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry, by Jane Hirshfield More >>
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

I just recently rediscovered this poem by Jane Hirshfield.

Some of her phrases just grab hold of you--

It is a simple garment, this slipped-on world.

And--

And yes, it is a simple enough task
we've taken on,
though also vast

This poem seems to me to be an exploration of the way we awaken each morning to the day, and to the world. It's a simple enough action; we do it every day, day after day, seemingly without effort or thought. Yet, it is also an immense undertaking each morning: We emerge from a land of rest and sleep and the fluid reality of dreams, we stretch, and rise into the immense reality of the shared tangible world. We step from one immense reality and step into a new immense reality. Simple, right?

What is she suggesting with her imagery of cat and mouse? This is just my reading of it, but knowing Jane Hirshfield to be a Buddhist practitioner, I suspect she is saying something about meditation and mind. Perhaps the meditator's mind is like the cat; it must come to still rest within the luminosity of consciousness. Then perhaps it can dream the mouse.

And the mouse is that hidden, hard-to-find deep mind, nestled safely in the secret corners of the house. The sunlight of daily consciousness may not reach there, but still awareness sees, and life blooms.

What do you think? Do you read it a different way?

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.