Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Poem by Denise Levertov
O Taste and See
The world is
not with us enough
O taste and see
the subway Bible poster said,
meaning The Lord, meaning
if anything all that lives
to the imagination’s tongue,
grief, mercy, language,
tangerine, weather, to
breathe them, bite,
savor, chew, swallow, transform
into our flesh our
deaths, crossing the street, plum, quince,
living in the orchard and being
hungry, and plucking
the fruit.
Denise Levertov
Denise Levertov is reminding us that it is not enough to yearn for the fullness of life, or merely to read the accounts of others. We must "taste" the world about us for ourselves, we must see it up close, we must feel its texture. We are indeed surrounded by beauty and transcendent reality, but only if we allow ourselves to breathe its essence into our own being will we possess it. We live in the orchard, but it is up to us to pluck the fruit.
P. S. Just a few minutes ago I received an amazing "care package" from a friend in another state. It contained a wealth of forbidden "goodies," from chocolate chip cookies to popcorn--all the things I love and generally do not allow myself to eat But, since this was a special occasion (aren't they all?), I immediately began to sample the spoils. And so I smiled when I read Levertov's poem once more--since I was indeed taking her advice to "taste and see."
Like Oscar Wilde, I can "resist anything but temptation."
