Denise Levertov: "The Breathing"

An absolute
patience.
Trees stand
up to their knees in
fog. The fog
slowly flows
uphill.
          White
cobwebs, the grass
leaning where deer
have looked for apples.
The woods
from brook to where
the top of the hill looks
over the fog, send up
not one bird.
So absolute, it is
no other than
happiness itself, a breathing
too quiet to hear.



"The Breathing" by Denise Levertov, from Poems: 1960-1967. © New Directions Publishing, 1983.

Art credit: Image 13 of 15 by Stephen Matera (originally black and white). Caption: "Fog rolls through old growth forest in summer, Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River Valley, Central Cascades."