Can we detect a guiding filament in our lives, like Ariadne’s thread that led Theseus out of the labyrinth? Is there a constant that runs through this perpetually-changing existence that pulls us this way and that? What is the nature of that thread and where did it come from? Denise Levertov wonders at its origins in her poem ‘The Thread‘ – one of many verses she wrote in articulation of her transcendent instincts – and ponders the origins of this thread and the ‘stirring of wonder’ it evokes.
The Thread
Something is very gently,
invisibly, silently,
pulling at me-a thread
or net of threads
finer than cobweb and as
elastic. I haven’t tried
the strength of it. No barbed hook
pierced and tore me. Was it
not long ago this thread
began to draw me? Or
way back? Was I
born with its knot about my
neck, a bridle? Not fear
but a stirring
of wonder makes me
catch my breath when I feel
the tug of it when I thought
it had loosened itself and gone.
Really beautiful. I love the imagery.
Perhaps now is the time to try “the strength of it”.