Thursday, November 04, 2010

The Swan - Rainer Maria Rilke

This clumsy living that moves lumbering

as if in ropes through what is not done,

reminds us of the awkward way the swan walks.

And to die, which is the letting go

of the ground we stand on

and cling to every day,

is like the swan,

when he nervously lets himself down into the water,

which receives him gaily

and which flows joyfully under

and after him, wave after wave,

while the swan,

unmoving and marvelously calm,

is pleased to be carried,

each moment more fully grown,

more like a king, further and further on.

translated by Robert Bly


David Whyte asks, "What is the elemental belonging in your life?"

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