The Sonnets to Orpheus
Part 1: I.
There, a tree ascended. O sheer transcendence!
O Orpheus singing! O High tree in the ear...
Having silenced everything; so during the silencing
a new beginning, direction--even change has appeared.
Creatures of calmness thronged out of the
clear, loosened forest from nesting-place
and lair. And as it happened--they were so mute
within themselves, yet not with stealth or fear--,
but harkening--that bellow, cry and roar
presented little in their hearts. And barely
where a hut had been to recieve this--,
one refuge out of the darkest yearning,
an entrance-way whose timbers quiver,--there,
you created for them temples in their hearing.
XXIX
The silent friend of infinite distances--
you feel your breath extending space.
Within rafters of gloomy bellfries, let
yourself toll. That which feeds on you
still grows from this nourishment to be
stronger. Be knowledgeable--in and out--of
this transformation. Which is your most sufferable
experience? If drinking is bitter--become wine.
Within the night, be from over-powering
magic at your senses' intersection--
your sense of a stange encounter.
So if the earthen forgets you--
to the silent earth say: I flow.
Then tell the rapid water: I am.
by Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Tommy Soden