A Sabbath Poem (Rilke)

          DO NOT BE TROUBLED GOD
          ~ by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)

          Do not be troubled, God, though they say “mine”
          of all things that permit it patiently.
          They are like wind that lightly strokes the boughs
          and says: MY tree. ...

          They will say "mine" as one will sometimes call
          the prince his friend in speech with villagers,
          this prince being very great--and far away. ...

          They still say “mine,” and claim possession, though
          each thing, as they approach, withdraws and closes;
          a silly charlatan perhaps thus poses
          as owner of the lightning and the sun.
          And so they say: my life, my wife, my child,
          my dog, well knowing all that they have styled
          their own: life, wife, child, dog, remain
          shapes foreign and unknown,
          that blindly groping they must stumble on.
          This truth, be sure, only the great discern,
          who long for eyes. The others WILL not learn
          that in the beggary of their wandering
          they cannot claim a bond with any thing,
          but, driven from possessions they have prized,
          not by their own belongings recognized,
          they can OWN WIVES no more than they own flowers,
          whose life is alien and apart from ours.

          God, do not lose your equilibrium.
          Even he who loves you and discerns you face
          in darkness, when he trembles like a light
          you breath upon, —he cannot own you quite.
          And if at night one holds you closely pressed,
          locked in his prayer so you cannot stray,
               you are the guest
               who comes, but not to stay.

          God, who can hold you? To yourself alone
          belonging, by no owner’s hand disturbed,
          you are like unripened wine that unperturbed
          grows sweeter and is all its own.

(from the Poems From the Book of Hours, New Directions Publishing, 1941)
Thank you Helme Silvet for this poem!
Yes, I know, I have to give you back the book.

Comments

[Ryan Bell]

Unbelievable poem! Thank you! It's been a very challenging week and this is poetry is like deep breathing. I know I am on the right track!