“Peace upon each thing my eye takes in,
Upon each thing my mouth takes in.”
—Carmina Gadelica
The pleated lampshade, slightly askew,
dust a silverish muting of the lamp’s fake brass.
My sock-monkey on the pillow, tail and limbs asprawl,
weary after a day of watching sunlight
prowl the house like a wolf.
Gleams of water in my bedside glass.
Miraculous water, so peacefully
waiting to be consumed.
The day’s crowding arrived
at this abundant stillness. Each thing
given to the eye before sleep, and water
at my lips before darkness. Gift after gift.
Denise Levertov
A prolific poet and essayist, Denise Levertov was the author of more than twenty books, the last of which were A Door in the Hive (1989), Evening Train (1992), The Sands of the Well (1996), The Life Around Us: Selected Poems on Nature (1997), and The Stream & the Sapphire: Selected Poems on Religious Themes (1997). She taught for many years at Stanford University and died in 1997 at the age of 74.
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