2013-01-16



I
We are right at the beginning, you see.
As if before everything.  With
a thousand and one dreams behind us and
without act.

II
I can think of no knowledge more sacred
than this:
That you must become one who begins.
One who writes the first word behind
a century-long
dash.

VI
Then think on life itself.  Remember that men
have many inflated gestures and unimaginably
grandiose words.  If they were, if only for a time,
as calm and as deep as the beautiful saints of Marco
Basaiti, then behind them too you would find
the landscape they have in common.
--from 'Notes on the Melody of Things'; Rainer Maria Rilke (trans by Maurice Blitz)


[St Jerome; Marco Basaiti]


1 comment:

Cartaphilus said...

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[h]