“He told of journeys, of where sun and moon go while we stand in dark,
of an earth-journey he dreamed he would take some day
deeper than roots ...
He told of the dreams of man, wars, passions, griefs,
and I, a tree, understood words – ah, it seemed my thick bark would split like a sapling's that grew too fast in the spring when a late frost wounds it.”

— Denise Levertov

A Tree Telling of Orpheus (1968)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update March 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He told of journeys, of where sun and moon go while we stand in dark, of an earth-journey he dreamed he would take som…" by Denise Levertov?

Denise Levertov 49

Poet 1923–1997

Related quotes

“He told of journeys,
of where sun and moon go while we stand in dark,
of an earth-journey he dreamed he would take some day
deeper than roots …”

Denise Levertov (1923–1997) Poet

A Tree Telling of Orpheus (1968)
Context: He told of journeys,
of where sun and moon go while we stand in dark,
of an earth-journey he dreamed he would take some day
deeper than roots...
He told of the dreams of man, wars, passions, griefs,
and I, a tree, understood words – ah, it seemed
my thick bark would split like a sapling's that
grew too fast in the spring
when a late frost wounds it.

““Why would he marry a twelve-year-old?”
“He had a dream where God told him he was to repopulate the earth.”
“Of course he did,” the clarinet said. “Don’t they all have dreams like that?”
“Right, I always thought that was a prerequisite for being a prophet,” Sayid said.”

Emily St. John Mandel book Station Eleven

Source: Station Eleven (2014), Chapter 19 (p. 123)

“The angel had told me in my dream that if I wanted to acquire the perfect knowledge I desired, I would have to go to the Moon. There I would find Adam's paradise and the Tree of Knowledge.”

Cyrano de Bergerac (1619–1655) French novelist, dramatist, scientist and duelist

Elijah to Cyrano
The Other World (1657)
Context: The angel had told me in my dream that if I wanted to acquire the perfect knowledge I desired, I would have to go to the Moon. There I would find Adam's paradise and the Tree of Knowledge. As soon as I had tasted its fruit, my mind would be enlightened with all the truths a person could know. That is the voyage for which I built my chariot.
Finally, I climbed aboard and, when I was securely settled on the seat, I tossed the magnetic ball high into the air. The chariot I had built was more massive in the middle than at the ends; it was perfectly balanced because the middle rose faster than the extremities. When I had risen to the point that the magnet was drawing me to, I seized the magnetic ball and tossed it into the air again.

“He knows he is my sun, but when he chooses to withhold his light, he would have my sky to be all darkness; he cannot bear that I should have a moon to mitigate the deprivation.”

Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XXVI : The Guests; Helen Graham

“Sick on a journey,
my dreams wander
the withered fields.
Bashō's last poem, written while he was dying of a stomach illness.”

Bashō Matsuo (1644–1694) Japanese poet

Sick on a journey –
over parched fields
dreams wander on.
Basho, On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho, London, 1985, p. 81 (Translation: Lucien Stryk)
Travelling, sick
My dreams roam
On a withered moor.
(Unknown translator)
Individual poems