May 11, 2011

Orchard and Road

Orchard in Pontoise

In the traffic of our days
may we attend to each thing
so that patterns are revealed
amidst the offerings of chance.

All things want to be heard,
so let us listen to what they say.
In the end we will hear what we are:
the orchard or the road leading past.

Collected French Poems

3 comments:

  1. When we aspire to be present in considering all things and to"listen to what they say", then the gift of living this way is that "we will hear what we are". Rilke puts the idea of mindfulness so beautifully and simply. Simple as it may be, it is difficult to live like that... especially with the traffic that thunders by my front door both figuratively and literally.

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  2. I like especially those two concluding lines with their implicit sense of choice. We can take the time to slow down, to quiet the noise we create in our own busyness, give ourselves the gift of time to consider what heart and mind tell us (and so give rise to full flower of our soul's work), or just keep going, the seeker who never finds.

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  3. So well put! Choice is at the root of all.

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"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Go ahead, bloom recklessly!