Thursday, August 09, 2007

Rilke

Dear reader, have you ever seen this poem?
It is by Rainer Maria Rilke and has so many levels of truth that I rediscover every time I read it...

Enjoy...(translation by Robert Bly)

I am too alone in the world, and not alone enough
to make every minute holy.
I am too tiny in this world, and not tiny enough
just to lie before you like a thing,
shrewd and secretive.
I want my own will,
and I want simply to be with my will,
as it goes toward action,
and in the silent, sometimes hardly moving times
when something is coming near,
I want to be with those who know secret things
or else alone.
I want to be a mirror for your whole body,
and I never want to be blind, or to be too old
to hold up your heavy and swaying picture.
I want to unfold.
I don't want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie.
And I want my grasp of things
true before you. I want to describe myself
like a painting that I looked at
closely for a long time,
like a saying that I finally understood,
like the pitcher I use every day,
like the face of my mother,
like a ship
that took me safely
through the wildest storm of all.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Found you via Google and really enjoyed this, thanks.

Unknown said...

Hi Fiona,
Thanks for the visit...
I'm glad you enjoyed it -