Friday, January 10, 2020

He heard a voice none else could hear
From centred and from errant sphere.
--Emerson
Listen...


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.
-Rainer Maria Rilke, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing” (Book of Hours, I 59)
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale
Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
"Jug Jug" to dirty ears.
t.s. eliot, "The Wasteland"

8 comments:

Jen said...

You're on a Rilke trip lately, huh? I love it.

Jen said...

p.s. I can't watch the JoJo Rabbit clips bc I haven't seen it yet! Seems like it wasn't in theaters very long...

Thersites said...

Inspired by the JoJo ending... He's a poet's poet. :)

...and sorry if I spoiled it for you. it never came to a local theater, so all I've been able to see of it are clips.

Jen said...

I guess it was in limited release. I'll wait till it hits Netflix.

I did see the "new" Little Women over Christmas break. It had a much stronger feminist tone, and Joe was more anti-marriage than the last two versions. I preferred Wynona Ryder as Joe, personally. I've read that book so many times, and I love it more than any of the movies...funny how every time it's re-made, the zeitgeist tends to overshadow the original moods and themes.

Joe Conservative said...

I guess that's a sign of its' timelessness... being able to remain relevant regardless of the era it's interpreted in.

Joe Conservative said...

I enjoyed it... and I've never seen any other versions.

Jen said...

Oh, try to watch the 1994 (?) Version. It's ... Warmer than the new one.

Joe Conservative said...

I'll look for it!