Friday, December 4, 2015

Rainer Maria Rilke: "It's possible"



















It’s possible I am pushing through solid rock
in flintlike layers, as the ore lies, alone;
I am such a long way in I see no way through,
and no space: everything is close to my face,
and everything close to my face is stone.

I don’t have much knowledge yet in grief—
so this massive darkness makes me small.
You be the master: make yourself fierce, break in:
then your great transforming will happen to me,
and my great grief cry will happen to you.




"It's possible" ["Vielleicht, dass ich durch schwere Berge gehe"] by Rainer Maria Rilke. Text as published in Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, edited and translated from the original German by Robert Bly (HarperCollins, 1981). 

Art credit: "Mountain wall in Norway," photograph by


3 comments :

  1. Thank you, thank you for your choices, often - an arrow to the 'bull's eye', terrible as that expression is.....
    please don't stop.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're very welcome, Kristin. And I'm very sorry to disappoint. But the time has come for me to turn my energies elsewhere. I encourage you to reread through the archives (three years' worth of poetry) and continue seeking poems that speak to you. That strike the mark.

      Deep peace,
      PCD

      Delete
  2. This is the poem I was seeking this morning...pushing through solid rock.

    ReplyDelete

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