{"id":8639,"date":"2025-11-14T09:31:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8639"},"modified":"2025-11-14T09:31:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:31:48","slug":"denise-levertov-primary-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/14\/denise-levertov-primary-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"Denise Levertov – Primary Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Primary Wonder
\nby Denise Levertov<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Days pass when I forget the mystery.
\nProblems insoluble and problems offering
\ntheir own ignored solutions
\njostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber
\nalong with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing
\ntheir colored clothes; cap and bells.
\nAnd then
\nonce more the quiet mystery
\nis present to me, the throng\u2019s clamor
\nrecedes: the mystery
\nthat there is anything, anything at all,
\nlet alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
\nrather than void: and that, O Lord,
\nCreator, Hallowed One, You still,
\nhour by hour sustain it.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Denise Levertov: Selected Poems<\/a>, by Denise Levertov<\/font><\/p>\n


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

Days pass when I forget the mystery.
\nProblems insoluble and problems offering
\ntheir own ignored solutions\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

We all wrestle with this, the demands of daily life, of work and family, all our plans and hopes and fears, the need to order everything every moment. In the midst of it all we struggle to remember that \u201cquiet mystery.\u201d Balancing a life in this world with that wide open wonder, it can feel like too much to achieve at times. The demands of the day sometimes demand our all. Yet it is the wonder and the mystery that fills our our lives and gives them meaning.<\/p>\n

When \u201cproblems\u201d fill the day, then those problems are the day\u2019s worship. The most mundane and seemingly meaningless effort, when approached with a sense of service and a questing heart, becomes an act of beauty. And when we finally come exhausted to a quiet moment, we are ready to fall silent before the mystery. Too tired to maintain our pretenses, we rest in awe.<\/p>\n

And then
\nonce more the quiet mystery
\nis present to me\u2026<\/i><\/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":"

Primary Wonder by Denise Levertov Days pass when I forget the mystery. Problems insoluble and problems offering their own ignored solutions jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing their colored clothes; cap and bells. And then once more the quiet mystery is present to me, […]<\/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":[195,588,2269,1163,1545,1605],"class_list":["post-8639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-denise-levertov","tag-effort","tag-mundane","tag-mystery","tag-quiet","tag-wonder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639","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=8639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8640,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639\/revisions\/8640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}