Sunday, September 07, 2008

A Lovely Little Levertov Goes a Long Way

For Frank and All Books, Inq.ers . . .

(Is this where Mr. Obama found *his* inspiration?)

Variation on a Theme by Rilke

A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me—a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honour and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic—or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

— Denise Levertov
(I cite the fair-use not-for-profit DMCA fifth.)

No comments:

Post a Comment