Sonnets to Orpheus, Part
Two, XXIX
Quiet friend who has come so
far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes
your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable
night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased
to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
~ Rainer
Maria Rilke ~
(In Praise of Mortality,
translated and edited by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)
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