For the New Year, 1981 - Denise Levertov

[Larry Robinson]

For the New Year, 1981

I have a small grain of hope—
one small crystal that gleams
clear colors out of transparency.
 
I need more.
 
I break off a fragment
to send you.
 
Please take
this grain of a grain of hope
so that mine won’t shrink.
 
Please share your fragment
so that yours will grow.
 
Only so, by division,
will hope increase,
 
like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower
unless you distribute
the clustered roots, unlikely source—
clumsy and earth-covered—
of grace.
    
	- Denise Levertov