Mt. St. Helena from Knights Valley
We thought it fitting to start our Blogging with musings from one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke. Rainer is known for lyrical, intense writing and the many letters he wrote to aspiring poets. In one of these he almost pleads, “…go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create. Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it. Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what recompense might come from outside.”
Day in Autumn
by
Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated by Mary Kinzie
After the summer’s yield, Lord, it is time
to let your shadow lengthen on the sundials
and in the pastures let the rough winds fly.
As for the final fruits, coax them to roundness.
Direct on them two days of warmer light
to hale them golden toward their term, and harry
the last few drops of sweetness through the wine.
Whoever’s homeless now, will build no shelter;
who lives alone will live indefinitely so,
waking up to read a little, draft long letters,
and, along the city’s avenues,
fitfully wander, when the wild leaves loosen.
Source: Poetry (April 2008).
