My life is not this vertical hour
in which you find me in such haste
I am a tree in front of my own background
I am only but one of my many mouths
and the one which is the first to close
I am the silence between two sounds
that only with difficulty grow used to one another
for the tone of death also wishes to be heard
but in the darkness of the interval
they make peace with one another, trembling
and the song remains beautiful
Rainer Maria Rilke
From Gaelin 's blog
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
in which you find me in such haste
I am a tree in front of my own background
I am only but one of my many mouths
and the one which is the first to close
I am the silence between two sounds
that only with difficulty grow used to one another
for the tone of death also wishes to be heard
but in the darkness of the interval
they make peace with one another, trembling
and the song remains beautiful
Rainer Maria Rilke
From Gaelin 's blog
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Ah, early summer rainy days. It is pitter-pattering outside the bougainvillea window right now. Gray loomed and has now given way. I just love this wrapped up in the clouds and the wet and the banana leaves dripping late morning feeling.
Working on the recording for T. Made gobs of headway.
Early rising.
I don't know much Rilke, but that is the poem that brought him to my attention.
ReplyDeleteThis translation is interesting in that the translation I first came across said something like "I am the silence between two notes," which would make sense with the final allusion to "song." This translation doesn't have the same feel of "these two notes are in dissonance, but as they pass, the song remains beautiful." I wonder if I could find that translation again . . .
Yes, Rilke rocks. I read his "Letters to a young poet" years ago over a weekend and it terrified me so much that I've never considered giving up writing since.