rainer rilke's book of hours

these are some of the poems (or parts of them) that moved me as i read
The Book of Hours by Rainer Rilke.

-----

she who reconciles the ill-matched threads
of her life, and weaves them gratefully
into a single cloth -
it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
and clears it for a different celebration

where the one guest is you
in the softness of evening
it's you she receives

you are the partner of her loneliness
the unspeaking center of her monologues
with each disclosure you emcompass more
and she stretches beyond what limits her
to hold you.

-----

all creation holds its breath, listening within me,
because to hear you, i keep silent

-----

you, my own deep soul,
trust me, i will not betray you.
my blood is alive with many voices
telling me i am made of longing.
what mystery breaks over me now?
in its shadow i come into life.
for the first time i am alone with you

you, my power to feel.

-----

it's here in all the pieces of my shame
that now i find myself again.
i yearn to belong to something, to be contained
in an all embracing mind that sees me
as a single thing.
i yearn to be held
in the great hands of your heart -
oh let them take me now.
into them i place these fragments, my life
and you, God - spend them however you want.

-----

no one lives his life

disguised since childhood,
haphazardly assembled
from voices and fears and little pleasures

we come of age as masks
our true face never speaks

somewhere there must be store houses
where all these lives are laid away
like suits of armor or old carriages
or clothes hanging limply on the walls

maybe all paths lead there,
to the repository of unlived things.

-----

press down hard on me, break in
that i may know the weight of your hand
and you, the fullness of my cry.

-----

God speaks to each one of us as he makes us
then walks with us silently out of the night

these are the words we dimly hear:

you, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
embody me

flare up like flame
and make big shadows i can move in.

let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
just keep going. no feeling is final
don't let yourself lose me.

nearby is the country they call life.
you will know by its seriousness

give me your hand.