Denise Levertov / Magic

MAGIC

by Denise Levertov
BIOGRAPHY

for Jon

The brass or bronze cup, stroked at the rim, 

round and round, begins 

to hum, 

             the hum slowly 

buzzes more loudly, and rapidly now 

becomes 

             the clang of the bell of the 

             deep world, unshaken, sounding 

             crescendo out of its wide mouth 

                                                one note, 

             continuous, 

                                 gong 

             of the universe, neither beginning nor ending, 

but heard 

only those times we take 

the cup and stroke 

the rim, 

diminuendo, 

only seeming 

to cease when we cease 

to listen… 

Poems 1972-1982

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2001