GO TO THE LIMITS OF YOUR LONGING
By Rainer Maria Rilke
God speaks to each 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 a 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 it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
From Rilke’s Book of Hours
translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows
(NY: Riverhead, 1997), I 59.
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Dear Dan,
When I was introduced to The Human
and the Holy I was making a painful
transition in my life. You gave me a life
line.
Ten years later that life line remains
strong.
Deep gratitude to you and the H&H
community.
With love,
Nuala.
O my dear friend, you were a cherished presence among us. Dia Dhuit
Thank you for sharing this reflection–beautiful.
Yes, poignant and evocative. Leave it to Rilke to undo us. Blessings