The Uncarved Blog

Before He Makes Each One

Before he makes each one
of us, God speaks.

Then, without speaking,
he takes each one
out of the darkness.

And these are the cloudy
words God speaks
before each of us begins:

“You have been sent out
by your senses. Go
to the farthest edge
of desire, and give me
clothing: burn like a great
fire so that the stretched-out
shadows of the things
of the world cover
me completely.
Let everything happen
to you: beauty and terror.
You must just go–
no feeling is the farthest
you can go. Don’t let
yourself be separated
from me. The country
called life is close.
By its seriousness,
you will know it.
Give me your hand.”

~ Rainer Maria Rilke  ~

(Translated by Annie Boutelle, Metamorphoses Fall 2001)

First published in German in 1905, by Rainer Maria Rilke, as Das Stundenbuch, The Book of Hours: Prayers to a Lowly God. There are several translations, known as Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God. Here is another version, God speaks to each of us, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.

“The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.”

“The only journey is the one within.”

This idea was expressed more eloquently by American poet, lecturer and essayist (1803-1882) Ralph Waldo Emerson when he said: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” I wonder if Rilke read Emerson?

See Letters to a Young Poet Quotes.

Also see: Singing Image of Fire, a poem by Kukai, with thoughts on language, translation, and creation.

This entry was posted on December 25, 2011 at 7:48 pm and is filed under Other poems, Poetry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.