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 Variation On A Theme By Rilke by Denise Levertov 
						A certain day became a presence to me;there it was, confronting me--a sky, air, light:
 a being. And before it started to descend
 from the height of noon, it leaned over
 and struck my shoulder as if with
 the flat of a sword, granting me
 honor and a task. The day's blow
 rang out, metallic--or it was I, a bell awakened,
 and what I heard was my whole self
 saying and singing what it knew: I can.
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