Night, so still,
where things entirely white
and things of red and all colors of the rainbow
are lifted into the one stillness
of one darkness—
bring me as well
to immersion in the Many.
Is my mind too taken with light?
If my face were not visible,
would I still feel separate from other things?
Look at my hands:
Don't they lie there like tools?
Doesn't the ring on that finger
look just like itself? Does not the light
lie upon them with such trust—
as if knowing they are the very same
when held in darkness.
Book of Images
Hands like tools, how lovely. And a ring, despite appearances, essentially the same in darkness and in light.
ReplyDeleteSuch wonderful layers of meaning.
This is such a wonderful meditation on light and darkness, separation and immersion, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with Elisabeth and Robert, about how evocative this piece is, the "trusting light", the hands like tools ... At the risk of being overly self-referential, I was mildly stunned by his words on white, red and the colors of the rainbow going into the stillness of the night, so soon after my own "hydrochromology" post on colors evaporating in the night.
ReplyDeleteI love those hands as tools too, and immersion and separateness.
ReplyDeleteLorenzo . . . ! How incredible this is after your recent post and poem on hydrochromology!
. . . By night
the moon siphons off
the colors of the world. . .
The deeper we get into this progression of Rilke's thoughts on light and darkness I am understanding more. Here, the image -- invisible! -- of my face in the dark, of being an invisible observer who is also one with everything, blended in the darkness that is outside me, I feel boundaries dissolving between inside and outside. I appreciate how the editors of A Year with Rilke have placed these last three readings in succession.
the deliquescence into darkness. the loss of signs and signifiers. steven
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful how the universe is designed, giving us light within which to explore and enjoy individuality, then bringing everything to darkness so that we can be reminded of our ultimate immersion in the Many? A wonderful post today and, as I've come to expect, equally wonderful comments by my insightful friends.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree with Ruth--these last three entries are definitely connected (and Orpheus, who traveled from light to dark & back again, as the bridge--the two sides of him, fascinating!), even though from different sources--how it obsessed him! Hands are tools. Light and dark, inner and outer, all dissolving...
ReplyDeleteDoes not the light
lie upon them with such trust—
as if knowing they are the very same
when held in darkness.
One stillness, as after a great bell ringing & reverberating into the night. Those vibrations i feel...
i always think if a line from a movie that goes something like "have you ever stared into the mirror so long that your face doesn't look like your face anymore?"...that is what inward examination can do at time - i've felt that experience. beautiful selection.
ReplyDeleteI like the contemplation here, between light and dark, and the quiet intimacy of the ring on the finger, the hands, the face.
ReplyDelete"If my face were not visible,
ReplyDeletewould I still feel separate from other things?"
It is strange to find Rilke at this time in my life when I am, by extreme lack of study, arriving at some of the same ideas. It is odd to me and yet I am grateful.
The hands as tools reminds me of a part in a movie, why has bodhi-dharma left for the east? a boy has lost his tooth and yet holds onto it. the monk tells him to hold no ties to such things that are only things. no sentimentality is to be had for such things. the monk himself is ready to let loose his own body when it has finished its doing.
If there are perimeters to things and ideas, Rilke's pockets are stashed with the thin lines of them like vast wads of strings. He undoes and in undoing, reveals.
xo
erin
In Italian, the wedding ring is called "la fede" which means "faith" or "creed". Whether Rilke infers that in this poem, too, I'm not sure enough of the original language to know. However, there is something profound in these lines for me - that faith (the ring) permits and trusts the light to know it completely:
DeleteDoesn't the ring on that finger
look just like itself? Does not the light
lie upon them with such trust—
as if knowing they are the very same
when held in darkness.