EVERY LINE SINGS OF HOPE. In the poem called, 'The Fountain', Denise Levertov manages in every line to sing of hope without ever mentioning the word once. Often in retreats I'll share this poem and we'll work with its' images comparing them to other poetic images in sacred texts and to the poetry of our lives. This poem is one of the first poems I memorized and comes back to me in times of darkness and despair.
‘The Fountain’ by Denise Levertov.
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water
to solace the dryness at our hearts.
I have seen
The fountain springing out of the rock wall
and you drinking there. And I too
before your eyes
found footholds and climbed
to drink the cool water.
The woman of that place, shading her eyes,
frowned as she watched-but not because
she grudged the water,
only because she was waiting
to see we drank our fill and were
refreshed.
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water.
That fountain is there among it’s scalloped
green and gray stones,
it is still there and always there
with it’s quiet song and strange power
to spring in us,
up and out through the rock.
-Denise Levertov
‘The Fountain’ by Denise Levertov.
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water
to solace the dryness at our hearts.
I have seen
The fountain springing out of the rock wall
and you drinking there. And I too
before your eyes
found footholds and climbed
to drink the cool water.
The woman of that place, shading her eyes,
frowned as she watched-but not because
she grudged the water,
only because she was waiting
to see we drank our fill and were
refreshed.
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water.
That fountain is there among it’s scalloped
green and gray stones,
it is still there and always there
with it’s quiet song and strange power
to spring in us,
up and out through the rock.
-Denise Levertov
