Denise Levertov




‘The myriad past, it enters us and disappears. Except
that within it somewhere, like diamonds, exist the frag-
ments that refuse to be consumed.’

Until sometime an ancient
mind or body—it’s not clear anymore
which it may be—
those indurate insistences
having crowded out all else
becomes all diamond:
hard transparence cut
to a thousand facets gleaming
with lights of the unseen,
a primal iridescence,
rainbow of death.