Poetry Response #6

For the Sleepwalkers

Edward Hirsch
(b. 1950)

Tonight I want to say something wonderful
for the sleepwalkers who have so much faith
in their legs, so much faith in the invisible

arrow carved into the carpet, the worn path
that leads to the stairs instead of the window,
the gaping doorway instead of the seamless mirror.

I love the way that sleepwalkers are willing
to step out of their bodies into the night,
to raise their arms and welcome the darkness,

palming the blank spaces, touching everything.
Always they return home safely, like blind men
who know it is morning by feeling shadows.

And always they wake up as themselves again.
That’s why I want to say something astonishing
like: Our hearts are leaving our bodies.

Our hearts are thirsty black handkerchiefs
flying through the trees at night, soaking up
the darkest beams of moonlight, the music

of owls, the motion of wind-torn branches.
And now our hearts are thick black fists
flying back to the glove of our chests.

We have to learn to trust our hearts like that.
We have to learn the desperate faith of sleep-
walkers who rise out of their calm beds

and walk through the skin of another life.
We have to drink the stupefying cup of darkness
and wake up to ourselves, nourished and surprised.


“For the Sleepwalkers” by Edward Hirsh is a poem about when people are sleepwalking, their hearts are leaving their bodies to go on some adventure. It describes how amazing it is your heart and body can leave your mind in it’s unconscious state, and always come back.

This poem grabbed my attention immediately as I felt I could relate to the Hirsh’s first line in the stanza. He wants to say something astonishing and wonderful for the sleepwalkers about the invisible faith they have in their legs is. I myself have wanted to say something “profound” and have not been able to grasp the right words. Hirsh does a great job writing the poem.

A reason I also liked this poem was how it utilized the use of imagery. It was used to describe how the sleepwalkers are walking around, and how they are not entirely certain where they are going to end up. In the first stanza Hirsh states, “…For the sleepwalkers who have…/so much faith in the invisible/arrow carved into the carpet…” (Lines 4 and 5). He does this to show that even though they are not awake, the sleepwalker still seems to trust where their bodies take them. Hirsh also uses sensory images in a variety of stanzas to create a vivid picture of the night and what it sounds and feels like for the reader.

“For the Sleepwalkers” by Edward Hirsh has a theme of the body and heart leaving the mind on its own. It’s an engaging theme, one that I don’t seem to find too often. It causes the reader to keep on reading until the end when they find out what really happens, when the sleepwalker returns back to bed. All together, the sensory images, the theme, the diction, and word play are utilized in a great way to ‘walk the reader’ through what’s going on in the poem; I really liked it because of that.