The dark hours of my being : Rilke

I adore the depth and richness of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry. This one is from his Book of Hours and really articulates the truth of my own experience :

I love the dark hours of my being.

My mind deepens into them.

There I can find, as in old letters,

the days of my life, already lived,

and held like a legend, and understood.

Then the knowing comes : I can open

to another life that is wide and timeless.

So, I am sometimes like a tree

rustling over a gravesite

and making real the dream

of the one its living roots

embrace.

A dream once lost

among sorrows and songs.