in preparation for writing my own series of elegies (origin elegies)
i read rainier maria rilke's duino elegies and the sonnets to orpheus
this poem is created from my underlines of his elegies
I
beauty is nothing
the beginning of terror
the knowing animals
are aware
we are not home
in our interpreted world
[lovers]use each other
to hide their own fate
a star waits for you
to notice.violin yields
itself to your hearing
mission
always distracted
by expectation,
as if every event
announces a beloved
soaring, objectless love
.most ancient of suffering.
lovingly free self from the beloved
&quivering,
endure as the arrow endures
the bowstring’s tension
so that gathered in the snap
of release it can be more
than itself
II
every angel is terrifying
pollen of the flowering godhead
space formed from essence
storms of emotion whirl into rapture
suddenly alone mirrors
i find that my hands
have become aware
of each other
so promise
eternity
almost
from the embrace
are you the same?
for our own heart
always exceeds us
III
it is one thing
to sing the beloved
O stars.from you
the lover’s desire
for the face of BEloved
arises
yes you did frighten his heart
ancient terrors.shock of feeling
relieved.nestle into your sheltering
heART, take hold, begin self
what primordial time stirred
how many sinister men aroused
in young veins.dead children
reach out to touch you …
o gently, gently
let him see you
perform, with love,
some confident daily task
… keep him
IV
o trees of life
when does your winter come [the reality of the london plane grove]
we are not in harmony.force
ourselves abruptly onto
the wind&fall to earth
conflict is second nature
lovers always arrive@each
other’s boundaries
here.i wait
my silent ancestors
stay seated with me
father.troubled by the aftertaste
of so strange a future, searched
my unfocused gaze for equanimity
my scrap of life.small beginning
into cosmic space.startle into life
impatient to be grown up.half for the sake
of those with nothing left but their
grownuPness.infinite,blissful space
between world&toy.pure event
to hold[the whole of death]
to one’s heart
gently
¬ refuse to go on living
inexpressible
V
who are they, these wanderers
perpetually leaping.lost in infinite
spAce.as if the suburban sky
has wounded the earth
fall down a hundred times daily
tree of mutually constructed
motion.pain.more distinct near
constantly racing heart
blindly
the smile…
gather it
healing
VI
the urge to action
rise up powerfully
glow in heart’s abundance
live in continual ascent
ever-changed constellation
of perpetual danger
suddenly grow inspired
sing into the storm of
the onrushing world
o sources of ravaging floods
each heartbeat intends for him
lifts him up, beyond.
transfigured
VII
BE.the nature of your cry
the patterned treetops
so strong, so intense
the reverence of all
these unfolded powers
the stars of the earth
o to be [free] at last
&know them endlessly
truly being here is glorious
a barely measurable time
between two moments
everything
the most visible happiness
can’t reveal itself to us
until we transform it
within
nowhere beloved will
world be but within us
our age has built itself
vast reservoirs of power
formless as the straining
energy it wrests from earth
temples are no longer known
even the nearest moment is far
from mankind
endless vision.now finally
upright, rescued at last
from a fading/alien city
wasn’t all this a miracle?
O great one.my breath
is too short for such praise
a tower was great
a woman in love
an outstretched hand
held open&reaching up
Ungraspable One far
above
VIII
with all eyes
look out into the
Open
emerge into freedom
through the timeless stillness
change back to the World
see all time.within all time
forever healed
the presence of what often
overwhelms us : a memory
the element.more intimate.true
infinitely tender
here all is distance
there it is breath
that first home
o bliss.leaps uP
so we live here
forever taking
leave
IX
why
this interval
spent serenely
have to be human
escape from.long for
FATE
truly being here is so much
everthing here
apparently
needs us
calls to us
the most fleeting THING
one with the earth
beyond undoing
hold it firmly
in simple hands
overcrowded gaze
speechless heart
long experience of love
return from
the mountain
into the valley
bring not a handful
of earth
but some pure word
o to dream of existing
the secret intent
force lovers together
the ancient threshold
the door…lightly
here is the time for
the sayable.homeland
speak&bear witness
the hammers hearts
endure
still.able to praise
praise this world
with glorious emotion
in the universe
powerfully
novice.simple
tell him of Things
how happy.innocent.ours
decide to take form
live by perishing
transient
change.utterly.invisible
heart-within-o endlessly
earth.arise within us
transformation:
urgent command
earth, my dearest, i will
unspeakably i belong to you
holy inspiration
intimate companion
well up in my heart
X
emerge from
violent insight
make me more radiant
let hidden weeping arise
&blossom
how alien.the city of grief
the false silence.continual
uProar
how money
multiplies,
naked
genitals
the whole action.to increase
potency
dogs do what is natural
what’s the use?
lament of timeless
equanimity.pearls
of grief&fine spun
veils of patience
a powerful race
trees of tears
herds of sorrow
a startled bird
far away.trace.its solitary
cry
sibyl.prophet
Sphinx
wonder@the regal head
silently lifted the human face
to the scale of stars,
forever
pure as the lines
on the palms
of a blessed hand
stand for mothers
shimmering
in the moonlight
the fountainhead of joy
reverence names it –
it is a mighty stream
embrace
alone.climb on
primal grief
footsteps echo
from the soundless
path
rain[drops]onto the dark
earth in springtime
emotion overwhelms
whenever a happy Thing
falls.