Afternoon in Naples, by Paul Cézanne
We, though we yearn for the One,
already feel the pull of other things.
Are not lovers ever pushing
at each other's limits? Lovers,
who promised each other
vastness, hunt, and home...
From the Fourth Duino Elegy
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What do we promise, but that which the Other has never yet fully experienced? It's what first attracts -- the polarity of promise -- and yet equally eventually repels, the promise unfulfillable. Rilke's Elegies had to write off love as one of the great fires that was not great enough for pure song. Love mentors the heart's third music, a door but not an end. Because always there is that pull of gravity into the greatest fire (where "a happiness falls," as Rilke concludes the Elegies), the one we'll never find, never quite name, though we try, we try, we try. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteI love the ending - vastness, hunt, and home. We need it all, yet the mix is rare
ReplyDeleteI love the ending - vastness, hunt, and home. We need them all, yet they are a rare mix.
ReplyDelete