{"id":6846,"date":"2020-09-25T08:47:07","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T15:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6846"},"modified":"2020-09-25T08:47:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T15:47:07","slug":"denise-levertov-beginners-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/25\/denise-levertov-beginners-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Denise Levertov – Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beginners
\nby Denise Levertov<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dedicated to the memory of Karen Silkwood and Eliot Gralla<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom too much love of living,
\nHope and desire set free,
\nEven the weariest river
\nWinds somewhere to the sea\u2013\u201c<\/i><\/p>\n

But we have only begun
\nTo love the earth.<\/p>\n

We have only begun
\nTo imagine the fullness of life.<\/p>\n

How could we tire of hope?
\n\u2014 so much is in bud.<\/p>\n

How can desire fail?
\n\u2014 we have only begun<\/p>\n

to imagine justice and mercy,
\nonly begun to envision<\/p>\n

how it might be
\nto live as siblings with beast and flower,
\nnot as oppressors.<\/p>\n

Surely our river
\ncannot already be hastening
\ninto the sea of nonbeing?<\/p>\n

Surely it cannot
\ndrag, in the silt,
\nall that is innocent?<\/p>\n

Not yet, not yet\u2013
\nthere is too much broken
\nthat must be mended,<\/p>\n

too much hurt we have done to each other
\nthat cannot yet be forgiven.<\/p>\n

We have only begun to know
\nthe power that is in us if we would join
\nour solitudes in the communion of struggle.<\/p>\n

So much is unfolding that must
\ncomplete its gesture,<\/p>\n

so much is in bud.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Candles in Babylon<\/a>, by Denise Levertov<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by ShinyPhotoScotland<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

A beautiful, questioning poem by the American poet Denise Levertov. She is holding the Buddhist ideals of compassion and awareness up against the realization of the nature of nonbeing. She asks, how can we let go into nirvana when there is so much undone, and so much cruelty done, and so much beauty we\u2019re disconnected from? How can we leave the living world when there is so much yet unlived?<\/p>\n

I think Denise Levertov wants us to struggle and to strive, and discover the communion we share with each other in the process. She wants us to recognize the heaven, or the potential heaven, we already inhabit, before we rush off to vague spiritual realms.<\/p>\n

Rather than try to offer a simple answer to the questions she is raising, let me ask what you think\u2026 How are compassion, service, respect for each other and the natural world in conflict with the pursuit of spiritual liberation and freedom from the pains of the world? How are they served by it? Does our history of imperfections make the spiritual quest irresponsible? Is the ideal of desirelessness and the awareness of nonbeing just an attempt to escape? Is it appropriate for \u201cbeginners,\u201d greatly stumbling beginners, to rush to the end point?<\/p>\n

Important questions\u2026 The way we answer these questions colors our path to deep awakening.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Denise Levertov<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Denise Levertov: Selected Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPoems of Denise Levertov: 1960-1967<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nBreathing the Water<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Great Unknowing: Last Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nCandles in Babylon<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Denise<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nDenise Levertov<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

US (1923 \u2013 1997) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a> : Beat<\/a>
\nJewish<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

More poetry by Denise Levertov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beginners by Denise Levertov Dedicated to the memory of Karen Silkwood and Eliot Gralla \u201cFrom too much love of living, Hope and desire set free, Even the weariest river Winds somewhere to the sea\u2013\u201c But we have only begun To love the earth. We have only begun To imagine the fullness of life. How could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-6846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-denise-levertov"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6847,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions\/6847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}