"To Speak" by Denise Levertov

In honor of National Poetry Month, I have shared exquisite poems by talented poets each Wednesday. And this achingly profound poem by Denise Levertov (1923 – 1997) concerns itself with the idea that talking about one's emotions, esepcially painful ones, brings relief and a sense of order to one's heart and mind. Bringing them out into the light instead of letting them stew in the dark recesses of our fears takes away the charge...

To Speak
by Denise Levertov

To speak of sorrow
works upon it
                moves it from its
crouched place barring
the way to and from the soul’s hall—
out in the light it
shows clear, whether
shrunken or known as
a giant wrath—
                discrete
at least, where before

its great shadow joined
the walls and roof and seemed
to uphold the hall like a beam.