Thursday, November 12, 2009

Dead Poets Month III

Here is a lovely translation (from this website) of Rilke's Love Song. I love the line "Whose are the hands that play our unison?"



Love Song
Rainer Maria Rilke

How shall I hold my soul and yet not touch
Or stir it with your own? How shall I place
It clear of you to anything beyond?
How gladly I would stow it next to such
Things in the darkness as will not be found
Down in an alien and silent space
That does not resonate when you resound.
But everything that stirs us, me and you,
Takes us together like a bow when two
Taut strings are stroked into the voice of one.
What instrument have we been lain along?
Whose are the hands that play our unison?
What a sweet song!

2 comments:

AF said...

Why, thank you.

I'm über-flattered.

Claire said...

I came over from Jennifer F's site on her suggestion and read the series on Teresa of Avila's Mansions. Really beautiful and it is inspiring me to trust God's love is so much greater than my little sufferings.

I also peeked around at some of your other topics and found the face of a friend in your post from Jan. 20th in the video you linked to. What a surprise! I had not realized he had a TV show now to reach out to other Arabic speaking Christians. I haven't seen him for over 12 years, when we both still lived in Morocco. He and his wife have suffered so much for the faith and yet he obviously continues to risk danger by hosting such a show and using his real identity. How amazing! I just can't get over it.