from Sonnets to Orpheus

Otto Piltz

Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29


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.

Rilke

Its hard to make a comment on this. Sometimes the only response is fullness of thought. I will say one thing - that line, "if the world has ceased to hear you", is resonant, so real and true, and the encouragement to both accept ("flow") and withstand ("speak") so necessary. Another "let" poem, and a beautiful example of the strange mix of allowing and asserting.