The following poem is from Rilke’s Book of Hours : Love Poems to God. Rilke’s poetry moves me deeply and comes out of his own internal quest and deep experience of a search for connection and meaning in larger deeper forces. The introduction to this particular volume is by two very powerful women figures Joanna Macy who has brought attention to the global crisis of despair that many suffer due to the way we can and do disconnect from and abuse nature and the poet Anita Barrows. This is a most beautiful translation that both writers were moved to make after finding such comfort in Rilke’s poems.
You are not surprised by the force of the storm –
you have seen it growing.
The trees flee. Their flight
sets the boulevards streaming. And you know
he whom they feel is the one
you move towards. All your senses
sing him, as you stand at the window.
The woods stood still in summer.
The trees’ blood rose. Now you feel
it wants to sink back
into the source of everything. You thought
you could trust that power
when you plucked the fruit;
now it becomes a riddle again.
And you again a stranger.
Summer was like our house : you knew
where each thing stood.
Now you must go out into your heart
as onto a vast plain. Now
the immense loneliness begins.
The days go numb the wind
sucks the world from your senses like withered leaves.
Through tthe empty branches the sky remains.
It is what you have.
Be earth now and evensong.
Be the ground lying under the sky.
Be modest now, like a thing
ripened unti it is real
so that he who began it all
can feel you when he reaches for you.
Emerging From The Dark Night 