December 1, 2011

Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower

Statue

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,

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.

In this uncontainable night,
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.

Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29

Photo of Rodin statue found here

7 comments:

  1. The tremendous power in these lines moves back and forth like the bell. It is difficult to contain it.

    But what I get from this is that these concepts are not containable any more than the night. When I get to the last stanza, all the tension of these previous lines — the pain and bitterness that can be transformed into song — I suddenly feel as if all that matters is that I am. (Orpheus is.) If I am not heard, what does it matter? I flow, I am. And with this, the sense that I must flow, I must speak.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought of the breathing in the first stanza that makes space around us as meditation which steps us into darkness but also shows us we're the bell to ring. It strengthens us, turns our bitterness to wine. It reminds us we're the mystery and the meaning, tells us to stand up and speak. Yes, we must.

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  3. what batters you becomes your strength.
    I love this line.

    What I also love in this poem is the sense of endurance, of confronting night and pain and of struggling on.

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  4. indeed ~rilke-s2oii29 is a great poem which has very provocative thoughts in it. i have tried to bring them out in my translation!

    ---~
    http://i.tgu.ca/rilke-s2oii29

    ReplyDelete
  5. indeed ~rilke-s2oii29 is a great poem which has very provocative thoughts in it. i have tried to bring them out in my translation!

    ---~
    http://i.tgu.ca/rilke-s2oii29

    ReplyDelete
  6. indeed ~rilke-s2oii29 is a great poem which has very provocative thoughts in it. i have tried to bring them out in my translation!

    ---~
    http://i.tgu.ca/rilke-s2oii29

    ReplyDelete

"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!