Saying and Singing What It Knew: I Can

“A certain day became a presence to me;

there it was, confronting me —

a sky, air, light: a being.

And before it started to descend

from the height of noon,

it leaned over and struck my shoulder

as if with the flat of a sword,

granting me honor and a task.

The day’s blow rang out, metallic —

or it was I, a bell awakened,

and what I heard was my whole self

saying and singing what it knew: I can.”

Denise Levertov, Variation on a Theme by Rilke

(The Book of Hours, Book I, Poem 1, Stanza 1)