This poem is from the book Second Sight by Daryl Hafter (Finishing Line Press) and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/second-sight-by-daryl-hafter/
The poems in Second Sight explore the world of nature as it speaks to us, enjoying, questioning, and complaining in our shared earthly home. We hear the moaning of a tree being cut down, and the ecstasy of wind-tossed Autumn branches. We learn to bear grief through the screen of mountain forests. But our lived experience goes beyond material things. My adult Bat Mitzvah opened questions. I had new ways of thinking about Creation and humanity. I wondered, Why do we have a flawed universe? What is our role in “Tikun Olam”—repairing the world? These poems present glimpses into the rich and full life surrounding us all.
A poet and historian, Daryl Hafter has published three books on women in eighteenth-century France, with the support of the American Philosophical Society and the National Science Foundation. She has a B.A. from Smith College and a Ph.D from Yale University. Her life-long poetry writing was inspired by growing up in a rural Utopian community called Free Acres. Her home now is Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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