"Fully occupied with growing--that's
the amaryllis....
One morning--and so soon!--the first flower
has opened when you wake. Or you catch it poised
in a single, brief moment of hesitation.
Next day, another, shy at first like a foal,
even a third, a fourth, carried triumphantly at the summit
of those strong columns, and each
a Juno, calm in brilliance, a maiden giantess in modest splendor.
If humans could be that intensely whole, undistracted, unhurried,
swift from sheer unswerving impetus! If we could blossom
out of ourselves, giving nothing imperfect, withholding nothing!"
-- By Denise Levertov, from This Great Unknowing: Last Poems. Copyright © 1998
It's the birthday of poet Denise Levertov,
born in Ilford, Essex, England (1923)
"Everything we do is just a drop in the ocean ... but if we don't do it that drop will be missing forever." ~ Mother Teresa
