Special Orders

by Edward Hirsch

I’ve turned on lights all over the house,
but nothing can save me from this darkness
…
Death is a zero hollowed out of my chest.
God is an absence whispering in the leaves.

Hirsch is the poet who cited the late William Matthews on the four subjects of poetry: [2]
1. I went out into the woods today, and it made me feel, you know, sort of religious.
2. We’re not getting any younger.
3. It sure is cold and lonely (a) without you, honey, or (b) with you, honey.
4. Sadness seems but the other side of the coin of happiness, and vice versa, and in any case the coin is too soon spent, and on what we know not what.

Links:

[1] http://marksarvas.blogs.com/elegvar/2008/03/edward-hirschs.html (Source)
[2] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5331955
[3] An excerpt from Special Orders: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/display.pperl?isbn=9780307266811&view=excerpt