Green-Striped Melons

By Jane Hirshfield b. 1953 Jane Hirshfield

They lie

under stars in a field.

They lie under rain in a field.

Under sun.

Some people

are like this as well—

like a painting

hidden beneath another painting.

An unexpected weight

the sign of their ripeness.

Poem copyright ©2008 by Jane Hirshfield, whose most recent book of poems is After, Harper Collins, 2006. Poem reprinted from Alaska Quarterly, Vol. 25, nos. 3 & 4, Fall & Winter, 2008, by permission of Jane Hirshfield and the publisher.

Biography

Award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield is the author of several collections of verse, including Come, Thief (2011), After (2006), shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize, and Given Sugar, Given Salt (2001), a finalist for the National Book Critics Award, among others. Hirshfield has also translated the work of early women poets in collections such as The Ink Dark Moon: Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi . . .

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