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Let Them Not Say

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Let them not say: we did not see it.
We saw.

Let them not say: we did not hear it.
We heard.

Let them not say: they did not taste it.
We ate, we trembled.

Let them not say: it was not spoken, not written.
We spoke,
we witnessed with voices and hands.

Let them not say: they did nothing.
We did not-enough.

Let them not say, as they must say something:

A kerosene beauty.
It burned.

Let them say we warmed ourselves by it,
read by its light, praised,
and it burned.

Created by The Wick Poetry Center
Sponsored by Ohio Arts Council
Originally published by the Academy of American Poets
Poem by Jane Hirshfield
Design by Alison Farone ©2017

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