Sometimes The Mountain Is Hidden From Me

When running low or out of steam, if feeling lethargic and under pressure at straightforward tasks, when distractions and restlessness seep into your being and prevent enjoyment of the here and now; when sometimes we feel that lack of clarity and miasmic moods prevail..... 

This beautiful and deceptively simple poem by Denise Levertov helps me to stop and take a deep breath, to allow space to re visualise :  "to go down to the shore or a few yards up the road ." 

The last line contains an intriguing phrase: " to reconfirm that witnessing presence"  For me it reminds me of what prayer is: a great metaphor for clearing the imaginal space, to allow soul space, to pay attention to cultivating a new image, new imagining or just standing still and bearing witness to God.

Also this ....

“Our intentionality constructs the landscapes of our inner world. 
Maybe it is time now for a phenomenology of soul.
The soul creates, shapes, and peoples our inner life.
The gateway to our deepest identity is not through mechanical analysis. 
We need to listen to the soul and articulate its wisdom in a poetic and mystical form.”

 John O’Donohue in Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom.


The talented artist Brigid Shelly has kindly given me permission to use some of her paintings of some places in County Kerry, Ireland that  go well alongside the poem.

More of Brigid's compelling original work can be seen here at her website here.


Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.

Denise Levertov



Ceann Sibeal County Kerry

Below: In The Shadow of Mount Brandon




Farm buildings Gorta Dubha


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