Come into animal presence ~Denise Levertov
No man is so guiless as
the serpent. The lonely white
rabbit on the roof is a star
twitching it's ears in the rain
The Llama intricately
folding it's hind legs to be seated
not disdains but mildly
disregards human approval
What joy when the insouciant
armadillo glances at us and doesn't
quicken his trotting
across the track into the palm bush
What is this joy? That no animal
falters, but knows what it must do?
That the snake has no blemish
that the rabbit inspects his strange surroundings
in white star silence? The llama
rests in dignity, the armadillo
has some intention to pursue in the palm forest
Those who were sacred have remained so
holiness does not dissolve, it is a presence
of bronze, only the sight that saw it
faltered and turned from it
An old joy returns in holy presence
