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Sunday, November 19, 2006

You, Darkness


You, Darkness

You, darkness, that I come from
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes a circle of light for everyone
and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything-
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them!
-powers and people-

and it is possible a great presence is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.

Original language: German
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926 /Germany)


8 comments:

rauf said...

Normally I do not quote any one Ruth, there are very very few that have impressed me. Same with poetry. Coming from Urdu background (the language itself is poetic Normal vocabulary is like poetry) I find there are very very few who can actually write poetry.
There are many poetry blogs. Very few have touched and impressed me.
Of all the poetry blogs I visit i was impressed by iamnasra's blog(I think she has arabic background)



I found this amusing quote in Kathy's blog

"No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it". -Terry Pratchett

Ruth said...

Rauf, words are like pictures, only pointing at something, not the thing itself. Some will connect to the essence through them, some won't.

Rilke is one of my muses.

I like that Terry Pratchett quote.

Ginnie Hart said...

What a provoking thought, Ruth, as spoken by Rilke. He definitely is a muse for many of us. Thanks for this.

And BTW, whose woods these are I think I know! :)

Ruth said...

Thanks, Ginnie.

Really, about the woods? Might not be whose you think. :)

Anonymous said...

I think of Rilke as a German emo rock star. I can imagine him in black eyeliner and girl pants. :)

Ginnie Hart said...

Actually, Ruth, now that I re-look, you're right. I DON'T know! But the thought was nice while it lasted. :)

Unknown said...

i love that poem.
and the name of the poet grabbed my attention, as one of my favorite bands names is Rainer Maria.
now i know where they got their name.

Ruth said...

Heather, I love your perspective.

Ginnie, ha! This woods is at MSU behind the hockey ice arena. :)

Lesley, that's cool!