I found this poem during a rainy-day perusal of a new volume of poetry - Denise Levertov's collection The Stream & the Sapphire: Selected Poems on Religious Themes. I love how she uses the form of the poem to make waves with her words. It's also a good one to read aloud.
Poetics of Faith
by Denise Levertov
'Straight to the point'
can ricochet,
unconvincing.
Circumlocution, analogy,
parable's ambiguities, provide
context, stepping-stones.
Most of the time. And then
the lightning power
amidst these indirections,
of plain
unheralded miracle!
For example,
as if forgetting
to prepare them, He simply
walks on water
toward them, casually -
and impetuous Peter, empowered,
jumps from the boat and rushes
on wave-tip to meet Him -
a few steps, anyway -
(till it occurs to him,
'I can't, this is preposterous'
and Jesus has to grab him,
tumble his weight
back over the gunwale).
Sustaining those light and swift
steps was more than Peter
could manage. Still,
years later,
his toes and insteps, just before sleep,
would remember their passage.
No comments:
Post a Comment