As the stores close, a winter light
opens air to iris blue,
glint of frost through the smoke
grains of mica, salt of the sidewalk.
As the buildings close, released autonomous
feet pattern the streets
in hurry and stroll; balloon heads
drift and dive above them; the bodies
aren’t really there.
As the lights brighten, as the sky darkens,
a woman with crooked heels says to another woman
while they step along at a fair pace,
‘You know, I’m telling you, what I love best
is life. I love life! Even if I ever get
to be old and wheezy-or limp! You know?
Limping along?-I’d still … ‘ Out of hearing.
To the multiple disordered tones
of gears changing, a dance
to the compass points, out, four-way river.
Prospect of sky
wedged into avenues, left at the ends of streets,
west sky, east sky: more life tonight! A range
of open time at winter’s outskirts.
(Denise Levertov)
More Poetry from Denise Levertov:
Denise Levertov Poems based on Topics: Light, Life, Woman, Dancing, Winter, Fairness- A Map Of The Western Part Of The County Of Essex In England (Denise Levertov Poems)
- Clouds (Denise Levertov Poems)
- Goodbye To Tolerance (Denise Levertov Poems)
- A Time Past (Denise Levertov Poems)
- Caedmon (Denise Levertov Poems)
- An excerpt from "Mass for the Day of St. Thomas Didymus" (Denise Levertov Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Life Poems, Light Poems, Fairness Poems, Woman Poems, Winter Poems, Dancing PoemsBased on Keywords: gears, mica, autonomous, four-way
- The Wild Knight (Gilbert Keith Chesterton Poems)
- Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. In Three Cantos. - Canto II. (Matthew Prior Poems)
- Hermann And Dorothea - VI. Klio (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poems)
- The Traveller; or, A Prospect of Society (Oliver Goldsmith Poems)
- A Story Of Plantagenet (Nora Pembroke Poems)