Denise Levertov - Scraps of moon
Ivan M. Granger February 27th, 2009
Scraps of moon
by Denise Levertov
Scraps of moon
bobbing discarded on broken water
but sky-moon
complete, transcending
all violation
Here she seems to be talking to herself about
the shape of a life:
Only Once
All which, because it was
flame and song and granted us
joy, we thought we’d do, be, revisit,
turns out to have been what it was
that once, only; every invitation
did not begin
a series, a build-up: the marvelous
did not happen in our lives, our stories
are not drab with its absence: but don’t
expect to return for more. Whatever more
there will be will be
unique as those were unique. Try
to acknowledge the next
song in its body-halo of flames as utterly
present, as now or never.
— from The Great Unknowing: Last Poems, by Denise Levertov
/ Photo by Irargerich /
Isn’t that a wonderful opening image Denise Levertov gives us? We see “Scraps of moon / bobbing discarded on broken water” — an image of the night sky scattered into separate, constantly moving pieces by the moving surface the water. But she follows with the statement, “sky-moon complete, transcending / all violation.”
She is building on the meditator’s metaphor of the mind being like water reflecting the vision of the heavens. When the mind is agitated, it reflects an image of reality that is fragmented, chaotic, broken into separate objects. But when the mind is brought to a state of serene stillness, it then reflects the wholeness. Even the moon itself is not separate from the sky, but a part of the single continuity that is the sky-moon.
Reality is not composed of separate objects and people. It is an interpenetrating oneness. This is the vision the still mind receives, “transcending / all violation.”
And from that starting point, Levertov drops into the awareness that “the shape of life” is “Only Once.” Within this wholeness, the present moment is always unique, a profound mystery, and never to be missed. Each glimmering upon the surface of awareness, each experience, each moment is unfolding now — not in the past, not in the future — and therefore it is occurring only once. Never repeated.
Somewhere in adolescence we start to mutter that mantra, “Been there, done that,” and we put ourselves on auto-pilot. Been there, done that is never true — not ever. Each experience is new, utterly itself and not from the past or to be repeated in the future. Even when an event occurs a second time, it is not the exact same event, but a new world unto itself.
Denise Levertov’s advice comes from a place of deep wisdom:
…Try
to acknowledge the next
song in its body-halo of flames as utterly
present, as now or never.
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Denise Levertov
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Synchronicity–I have been writing about my adolescence and was horrified to see that in some ways I am repeating an unevolved pattern…but, this poem and commentary tells me maybe not.
Maybe a spiral, going over the old, but still new. It is those broken moon bits scattered (though I am told my mind is my own making.) Yes we are connected, and this gives us the power to scatter one another’s moon bits afar. I pray we see the sacredness of our light and we are protected, each in our wholeness.
More then ever, I enjoy your commentary on the poem more then the poetry.
Dee
Whoa! great job, Ivan. This is my very first mailing from you, and it’s a whole lot better than I expected. (I wasn’t even aware that this was a blog til just now)
The moon is “merely” a reflection of the Sun, of course. In a indirect way, it obliges us to see the Sacredness of our own light, as one of your other respondents prayed.
Dear Denise,
Its alovely poem. I just loved it.
Stilling the mind…….Ah yes I have heard about it so many times and tHE most difficult thing to do.
STILL you must try
You have to be still but still moving!
@Ivan,
I love TODAYS THOUGHT very much.
This is the multivitamin capsule I need
every morning
Thank you.
Amiyo
Moon is my favourite friend to think and compose poetry. I love this poem.Thanks for sharing.
Dear respected …………………..,
Really it’s a wonderful immagine of a poet which tell us that life can be compare with the moon.
So we can say that it is not merely the reflection of moon in ‘WATER’
But it’s a fact that tells more about the truth of life with reflection.
Thanks a lot to send me this kind of meaningfull poetry.
I am very thankfull to you thanks again.
493
I’m continually entralled by the work of Denise Levertov and her ability to capture you for the short amount of lines and then leave you with questions. I agree that this poem is depicting the human mind, the feeling of frustration or serenity of mind are common in everyday life. However, Levertov grasps this concept and evolves it, using the moon as a symbol for our minds. She builds on the idea that all of our minds are connected as Ivan describes..”But when the mind is brought to a state of serene stillness, it then reflects the wholeness. Even the moon itself is not separate from the sky, but a part of the single continuity that is the sky-moon.”
I agree that the reason she uses the moon as the metaphor for the human mind is because although we know about it, it still remains mysterious and unfolded for many. The mind is infinitively complex as is space and the moon so each expirience is new and our minds are ever-changing. As usual Levertov leaves the reader with something to ponder, in this case she provides her own advice.
…Try
to acknowledge the next
song in its body-halo of flames as utterly
present, as now or never.
She wants the reader to graps the idea that nothing is ever completly the same and we should appreciate and understand that in order to fully attain each and every expirience.
Two very nice poems. I think that they work better separately, though. Scraps of Moon ends after the phrase “all violation”, and Once Only begins after “Only Once” (the former is the correct title). Both are from Levertov’s collection _The Great Unknowing_, published posthumously.
Once Only brought me to tears the first time I read it. Not from sorrow, or from joy, but from a truth that touched me deeply.