Stay, I said
to the cut flowers.
They bowed
their heads lower.

Stay, I said to the spider,
who fled.

Stay, leaf.
It reddened,
embarrassed for me and itself.

Stay, I said to my body.
It sat as a dog does,
obedient for a moment,
soon starting to tremble.

Stay, to the earth
of riverine valley meadows,
of fossiled escarpments,
of limestone and sandstone.
It looked back
with a changing expression, in silence.

Stay, I said to my loves.
Each answered,
Always.

Poem copyright ©2011 by Jane Hirshfield, from Come, Thief, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

Ms. Hirshfield has another poem titled “Stay” from her book After: Poems. We shared it here in June 2014.