Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Field

1.

The field is goldenrod in bloom,

And is every August.

 

 

2.

A path that deer and people walk

Now rings the field,

And always could have.

 

3.

The house commands a view

That stretches to the neighbor’s field,

And claims itself the place

The path departs from and returns.

 

4. 

The path begins with the house,

But the house began with the field.

 

5.

Two chairs on the path,

In shade when the house is in sun,

In sun when the house is in shade,

Within earshot of the rushing brook.

 

6.

One chair on the path

Closer to the mountain

And the wild apple trees,

Hidden except when filled

By someone in a bright-colored shirt.

7.

The chairs offer new views

Of the house and field.

 

8.

The King is in the field.

 

9.

Midfield hum and buzz:

Yellow jackets rush to and from

Their sun-warmed nest

Beneath the goldenrod.

 

10. 

Beyond the field

After moonless midnight,

The neighbor’s dog barks,

And barks again;

The barred owl replies.

 

11.

In the morning,

Deer only in the mind’s eye:

Late June’s giddy fawns

Romping on the just-cleared path,

Mother close behind.

 

12.

Two questions persist:

When is humming silence?

Is silence felt more than heard?

 

13. 

The path knows

What the house knows sometimes:

Everything is the field.