“Yes, he is here in this open field, in sunlight, among the few young trees set out to modify the bare facts-- he's here, but only because we are here. When we go, he goes with us to be your hands that never do violence, your eyes that wonder, your lives that daily praise life by living it, by laughter. He is never alone here, never cold in the field of graves.” FactsHandsEyeYoungWonderViolenceTreeFieldsColdLaughterPraiseGravesSunlightOpen Fields Book:Poems 1968-1972 Source: Poems 1968-1972
“Wear scarlet! Tear the green lemons off the tree! I don't want to forget who I am, what has burned in me, and hang limp and clean, an empty dress -” WantForgetTreeTearsEmptyDressesGreenCleanWho I AmBurnedLemonsScarlet Book:Collected Earlier Poems, 1940-1960 Source: Collected Earlier Poems, 1940-1960
“Rain-diamonds, this winter morning, embellish the tangle of unpruned pear-tree twigs; each solitaire, placed, it appears, with considered judgement, bears the light beneath the rifted clouds - the invisible shared out in endless abundance.” LightMorningTreeBearsRainWinterCloudsEndlessInvisibleJudgementAbundanceDiamondPearsTwigsWinter Morning Author:Denise Levertov
“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.” LooksWhiteTreeQuietBirdFlowAbsolutesWoodsHillsBreathingGrassKneesApplesFogBrooksDeerCobwebsTop Of The Hill Author:Denise Levertov
“You can live for years next door to a big pine tree, honored to have so venerable a neighbor, even when it sheds needles all over your flowers or wakes you, dropping big cones onto your deck at still of night.” YearsStillsBigsNightNextDoorsTreeFlowerNeighborOver YouShedHonoredDroppingNeedlesDeckConesWakes YouPine TreesArbor Day Book:Sands of the Well Source: Sands of the Well
