Denise Levertov (1923–1997)
The Gift
Just when you seem to yourself
nothing but a flimsy web
of questions, you are given
the questions of others to hold
in the emptiness of your hands,
songbird eggs that can still hatch
if you keep them warm,
butterflies opening and closing themselves
in your cupped palms, trusting you not to injure
their scintillant fur, their dust.
You are given the questions of others
as if they were answers
to all you ask. Yes, perhaps
this gift is your answer.
Denise Levertov (1923–1997) was born in England to a Welsh mother and a Russian Hasidic father. She moved to the United States in 1948. By the time she died in 1997, Levertov had published nearly 50 volumes of poetry, prose, and translations. Many of her poems grapple with matters of faith and doubt. This poem is from Sands of the Well (New Directions, 1996).
Selected by Amy Frykholm: amy@journeywithjesus.net
