What One Receives from Living Close to a Lake, by Denise Levertov

That it is wide,

and still--yet subtly

stirring; wide and

level, reflecting the intangible sky’s

vaster breadth in its own

fresh, cold, serene

surface we can

touch, enter, taste.

That it is wide

and uninterrupted save by

here a sail, there

a constellation of waterfowl--

a meadow of water

you could say,

a clearing amid the entangled

forest of forms and voices,

anxious intentions, urgent

memories: a deep, clear

breath to fill

the soul, an internal

gesture, arms

flung wide to echo

that mute

generous outstretching

we call lake.

From “The Life Around Us,” by Denise Levertov (New Directions: 78 pp., $19.95) Copyright 1997 Reprinted by permission.