Be ahead of all parting, as though it already were
behind you, like the winter that has just gone by.
For among these winters there is one so endlessly winter
that only by wintering through it all will your heart survive.
Be forever dead in Eurydice-more gladly arise
into the seamless life proclaimed in your song.
Here, in the realm of decline, among momentary days,
be the crystal cup that shattered even as it rang.
Be-and yet know the great void where all things begin,
the infinite source of your own most intense vibration,
so that, this once, you may give it your perfect assent.
To all that is used-up, and to all the muffled and dumb
creatures in the world’s full reserve, the unsayable sums,
joyfully add yourself, and cancel the count.
(Rainer Maria Rilke)
More Poetry from Rainer Maria Rilke:
Rainer Maria Rilke Poems based on Topics: World, Infinity, Winter- Elegy X (Rainer Maria Rilke Poems)
- Elegy I (Rainer Maria Rilke Poems)
- Elegy IV (Rainer Maria Rilke Poems)
- Fear of the Inexplicable (Rainer Maria Rilke Poems)
- To Lou Andreas-Salo (Rainer Maria Rilke Poems)
- Dedication to M. (Rainer Maria Rilke Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: World Poems, Winter Poems, Infinity PoemsBased on Keywords: sums, winters, cancel, assent, vibration, seamless, wintering, be-and, unsayable, used-up