by Rainer Maria Rilke
Exposed upon the mountains of the heart. See how small over there
the last outpost of words, and higher up,
just as small, one last farmyard of feeling.
Do you recognize it? Exposed
upon the mountains of the heart. Stony ground
under the hands.
Something still blooms here, on the dumb cliff face
blooms an unconscious weed, singing.
But where is the conscious one? He who began to be conscious
now is silent, exposed upon the mountain of the heart …
the last outpost of words, and higher up,
just as small, one last farmyard of feeling.
Do you recognize it? Exposed
upon the mountains of the heart. Stony ground
under the hands.
Something still blooms here, on the dumb cliff face
blooms an unconscious weed, singing.
But where is the conscious one? He who began to be conscious
now is silent, exposed upon the mountain of the heart …
(Written on the eve of World War I)
Ohhhhh, When I got to (Written on the eve of World War I) I suddenly wanted to bawl, Ruth.
ReplyDeleteI know this, of course, and I love it, in a profound, heart-wrenching way, as with so much of Rilke... It's beautiful, it's sad, it's heartening ('something still blooms here'), it's tragic, and it goes so deep. That's Rilke.
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