Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996 by Denise Levertov

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper,
magazine, radio, or television review, no part of this book may be
reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Pub
lisher.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the editors and publishers of
magazines in which some of the poems in this collection first ap-
peared: American Poetry Review, Amicus Journal, Beloit Poetry Jour-
nal, Carolina Quarterly, Cat's Ear, Colorado Review, Connecticut
Quarterly, Equinox, Image, Notre Dame Review, Poetry Ireland Re-
view, Seneca, Sycamore, and Wilderness Review.

Manufactured in the United States of America
New Directions Books are printed on acid-free paper
First published clothbound in 1996
Published simultaneously in Canada by Penguin Books Canada Limited

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Levertov, Denise, 1923-
Sands of the well / Denise Levertov.

p. cm.
ISBN 0-8112-1316-1 (alk. paper)

I. Title.
PS3562.E8876S26 1996 96-4324
811′. 54--dc20 CIP

Celebrating 60 years of publishing
for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation,
80 Eighth Avenue, New York 10011

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