Denise Levertov: "Variation on a Theme by Rilke"

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.

"Variation on a Theme by Rilke" by Denise Levertov, from Breathing the Water. © New Directions Publishing, 1987.

Photograph: Detail of "The Accolade," oil on canvas painting by Edmund Blair-Leighton (originally color).